Who: Brian and Mya
Where: The diner
When: After the party

It hadn't been one of Brian's favorite birthdays. It hadn't been bad, exactly, but it would have been a lot better if Olivia had come and he'd been able to be open about Domino. Still, the food had been good-- he was stuffed-- and his friends had been there-- including a remarkably unrattled Hunt and the completely unexpected but very welcome Ash-- and there had been that aire of relief to everything, with the vampire thing apparently over. Now he was comfortably tired and helping Mya out a bit with cleanup. He'd already taken Marlowe home, so she could get some rest and be in by sundown, so it was just him and Mya left after all the guests and help had been shooed off.

Perfect time for a difficult conversation, right? Brian just hadn't managed to get up the nerve to start it yet. How did you tell the woman you'd loved for years that you were dating a man half your age? Who worked for you?

So he just set about pulling down streamers from the counter and said, "Pretty good turnout."

"Of course it was." Mya said as she slipped the tortilla pinwheels into a container, there was always extra food when Mya threw a party, and it wasn't because it was bad food, but Mya always just made more than was needed. "Did you expect anything less?" She asked with a smile.

"Wasn't honestly sure," Brian admitted. "What with everything going on...." And still no Olivia. That bothered him. "Glad it went well, though. Even got gifts!" Which he acted like it amazed him every year, even though he was getting resigned to it, by now. He cast one glance at the lamp Domino had gotten him-- goofy kid. It'd been all he could do to neither bust up laughing at it, nor go over and hug him too tight for an employer to get away with. Either one would've given them away.

God, he hated this. Gotta start getting it out there.

Mya rolled her eyes as she snapped the lid on the container. "Every year you get gifts, and every year you're surprised. You're impossible." She laughed, shaking her head. "You should have stuck around a little longer before dropping Marlowe off, I practically had to forcefully remove people who wanted to stick around and help clean instead of going home. A few of them I threatened with their jobs to get them to leave." She giggled slightly, she never would have done it, but sometimes playing the boss card was the only way to get your way.

"Oh no, not their jobs," Brian chuckled. "They can make it up by doing the dishes for me tomorrow, or something. I'd rather do this myself, with you." Which was the honest truth, even without the Domino thing thrown in.

"Exactly. I told them that they needed to get home before dark and leave this to you and me. Something worked because they all left." She said as she started on the next food item. "So, we haven't been able to talk really in the past couple of days thanks to... well... everything." Mya said looking over to him. "How are you?"

"The million dollar question," Brian said with a wry smile. "I ran into vampires twice, I had to rescue Marlowe and Hunt both, I figured out how to fold up space so I can teleport, sort of, I backlashed hard enough to be dangerous to my poor brain, and I had a fight with my-- my boyfriend, only to get back together with him a couple days later." Well, that was part of it, anyway, and part of a nice, long list that Mya really knew very little about. He shot her an apologetic sort of smile, now, for dropping it all on her at once, then finished, "Oh, and I turned forty. Exciting week, huh?"

Mya opened her mouth to speak but closed it. "Ok..." She said, that was a lot... needed to be sorted through. "I guess first... it's only forty! You're still healthy, strong, good job, good friends and apparently a boyfriend?" Mya smirked slightly, her eyebrow raising questioningly. "But as for the backlash, how many times do I have to tell you 'Be careful!'?"

Well apparently the "boy" part didn't throw her. That was one of the "Domino bombshells" he had to drop. Hopefully the others would go over about as well, or even half as well.... "Hey, didn't exactly have much choice, gorgeous," Brian protested, starting on the balloons, deflating them with thoughts alone. "Had to get Marlowe out of there before they killed her or turned her, then did the same to us. Wound up with a fever all Monday a and little into Tuesday, and fucking water everywhere for most of Monday." He shuddered, not even in jest; it had been just that bad. "Was lucky to have Domino there."

Domino? "Domino? I thought he was resting." She said, it was unclear as to whether she was more upset that he wasn't resting or that Domino wasn't the one who told her that he wasn't resting. Mya shook her head. "As long as everyone's ok... doesn't mean you don't need to be more careful." But he wouldn't get a real lecture, Mya knew that Brian did what he did for good and knew full well of the risk he took- she didn't need the empathic stuff to know that.

"He was resting... Then I called him to help me track down Marlowe," Brian sighed. "So then he got to deal with me in a feverish panic attack before he got to get back to resting." If good sex counted as resting.... There had been resting in there, too, right? Brian grinned a bit at her, a little uncomfortably, given how close they were skirting to what he really needed to tell her. "So don't get too mad at him. He really does need the time off."

Mya nodded. "I know he does, I saw him... his back is pretty banged up." She snapped the lid on the dip and squinted at him slightly, he was holding something back. "But what aren't you telling me... why are you so nervous?" He was only nervous around her when he'd done something.

Brian supposed this was the result of having empathic angels for best friends. At least if she gave him an opening like that, he couldn't dance around it anymore. "Promise you won't kill me or fire me first," he said with a weak smile.

"With an intro like that, how could I not?" She replied, arching her eyebrow at him.

Taking a slow breath, Brian said, "My boyfriend is Domino." And he half-ducked back and waited for the explosion. Or the non-explosion. Or whatever it was Mya decided to say or do.

Mya stared at him for a long moment, as if there was something else- something he forgot to add. Her mouth opened slightly as if she was going to say something but closed with a little sigh. It was as if, for the moment, she was rendered actually speechless.

In liu of babbling out apologies or explanations or rationalizing, Brian just went back to quietly deflating balloons and tossing them into the trash bag he was carrying, not looking at her. He knew it was stupid, but at this point, he really didn't care anymore. All he wanted was for his friends to not hate him, abandon him, or think he was a horrible person. Though he really wasn't sure he was going to get that. It didn't look promising, already, and this was Mya.

With his back to her Brian couldn't see Mya come from around the counter and smack his arm, kinda hard too.

"Ow, hey!" Brian stepped away from her again and rubbed his arm. "What the hell, Mya." He'd already taken an emotional and mental beating over Domino, did he have to take a physical one, too?

"I-I-I don't even know where to start." She said looking at him, the look on her face was... hurt? "I mean first off you never told me... how long have you been seeing him? Why didn't you tell me? And are you a fool? He's an employee!"

"You don't think I've been freaking out over it, too?" Brian countered, feeling guilty and defensive and just plain bad. "He's eighteen, for god's sakes... and I don't want any fallout coming on the diner if it g-gets out and it gets out badly. I didn't tell you because I was afraid of what you'd say, ok-kay? I'm only telling you now because... because I felt like shit n-not doing so, and because it looks like it's more than just a fling." The stuttering was getting out again-- trying to talk too fast and say too much at once. He snapped it off there, before it could really get bad.

The last comment had Mya blink. "More than just a fling?" She asked, trying to decide if she believed those words had just come out of Brian's mouth.

"I do have flings now and then, yeah," Brian said, again with the defensive. "I figured at first we'd get it out of our system and be okay again. It just... kept happening. And it's going to k-keep happening." Unless he cheated again, anyway. Brian turned away and went back to the clean-up, unhappy but unable to keep looking at her. "I like him, all right? I know it's wrong and fucked up and completely not what I should be doing, but I like him." And he wasn't giving up the only good thing he had going at the moment unless he had good reason to.

He just really hoped Mya wasn't going to try and give him good reason to, because in a choice between keeping Mya and keeping Domino, Mya would still win.

"If... this screws up the diner or he breaks your heart...." She said, holding up a finger to him. "I swear... I'll..." Ok so she didn't know what she'd do but still. Brian was serious with someone... actually having more than a fling, more than a date. Mya actually welled up a little.

"If it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out," Brian said, shooting her an uncertain little smile, though it quickly turned into a little more uncertain concern. She looked a little like she was gonna cry. "I promise, I won't... I don't want it to mess up the diner. I really don't. I'm gonna be careful about this, I swear."

Mya sniffed a little and nodded before giving him a long hug. "You know I love you." She whispered in his ear. She couldn't be upset with him when he seemed so happy.

The hug was unexpected, but welcome, and Brian dropped the trash bag to put both arms around her, back, hugging her tightly. "Yeah, Mya. I know. You know I love you, too, right?" Because he did. Mya still came first, in his mind, however much he enjoyed Domino's company. Right in that moment, he was sure it'd always be that way, but friends usually came before lovers, anyway, right? Right.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked, stepping back. "I know, scared... whatever... but you still should have told me. You know me better than to judge you." Mya slugged him gently on the shoulder.

"Maybe not so much for the dating-a-guy thing, or even for the dating-an-eighteen-year-old thing," Brian answered with a sad little grin, "but I was sure right about the dating-an-employee thing. I know you're not the judging type, but I know I'm just being damn stupid and I knew you'd tell me that."

"I'm not pleased with the employee thing, but Bry, you're happy... you know how long I've waited for you to be really happy?" Mya asked, sitting down in the booth, she was actually starting to tear a little. "You're my best friend in the whole world... you know that. And it's my job to help people find their way and damnit Brian, if this kid... one of our best employees... who flirts with everything that moves... makes you happy... who am I to tell you different?"

"Okay, you are seriously not helping the 'I'm happy for you' line," Brian said with a sad kind of smile, coming to join her at the booth. Reminding him of the bad sides of this relationship was really only making him feel bad, like he was throwing himself into this for the "kid" who flirted with "everything that moves" and had already cheated on him once. Though now he knew better, on the cheating thing... he knew better, and he wouldn't do it again. Right?

Mya reached out for his hand and chuckled a little. "I'm sorry, I -really- am happy for you though. I mean my little boy is all grown up." She teased with a laugh.

Sliding his fingers through hers and squeezing gently, a weird contrast to the way he rolled his eyes and grinned, Brian answered, "You're talking to a short man here, Mya. Call me 'little' at your own risk." Not that Brian was horribly touchy about his height, compared to some, but he could joke about it.

Mya smiled up at him. "So who else knows?" She asked. It was strange, she was thrilled for Brian, but couldn't seem to help the twinge of jealousy. Not because she wanted the man for herself (or the boy either), god no. Maybe it was because he'd found someone and she was still... her.

"Olivia, cuz Domino told her...." God, Olivia. Another thing to think about, that he didn't want to think about. "That's about it. You were at the top of my list for telling, so you got to be first." He ran his thumb over her knuckles gently, smiling some. "At least you got that, right?"

She lifted his hand and kissed it softly. "Next time... no keeping secrets this big ok? You're lucky things've been hell otherwise I would have hassled you about it sooner." Mya'd been so busy with people over-stressed about the vampires and fearing for their lives, she'd missed Brian's silent cries for help.

"Promise, I won't." Especially now that she knew he went for guys as much as girls. That had, admittedly, been a little worrisome. "Really, if things hadn't been hell, I might've told you sooner." Or might not've gotten together with Domino, to begin with... his willpower had been seriously lacking in that department, lately. "So here's hoping there's less hell going around, from now on."

"From your lips." Mya said with a small smile. She was happy he told her, at least he told her and she knew it was big for Brian to tell anyone, even her. "And keep it professional at work... that's all I ask." She added, squeezing his hand gently.

"We were professional tonight, weren't we?" Brian said, and this time his defensiveness was feigned. "Seriously, it won't be a problem. Especially since I'm taking it slow letting it get out there... friends first. See how they react... then maybe other people." He hated keeping Domino a secret, true, but he had to be practical, and realistic, about how a small town would handle a relationship like theirs.

“Yes, you’ve been very professional, just didn’t want you thinking that now that I know you can stop.” She teased lightly. “You know what, it’s clichéd I know… but if people don’t accept it… it’s their deal not your’s. They wouldn’t be worth the trouble if they think they can judge you for following your heart.”

That was nice to think, but those people who were supposedly not worth it were the people who spent their money on the diner, and Brian didn't want to risk that. If it were just him, and his business-- Mya's business-- weren't attached to his reputation, he wouldn't care, he'd tell the whole world... But that simply wasn't the case. He did smile, though, at her support and encouragement. "Thanks gorgeous... I'm really glad you're doing okay with this." He really didn't want to think about the alternative.

"You really think I wouldn't be?" Mya asked, shaking her head a little. "You don't know me at all then."

"Employee thing," Brian reminded her with a wan grin, giving her fingers another little squeeze. "Besides, emotions don't listen much to reason, and I haven't really been thinking straight lately." That was an understatement. He felt a little as if he hadn't been able to think at all, lately... Sometimes to his relief.