Title: Nom de Gus
Written By: suzvoy
Timeline: About a year after the show ends, depending on how you judge CowLip's cracked timeline.
Rating:. PG-13
Warnings: Only a little of the bad language we hear on the show. Very sappy.
Summary: When Gus turned six years old, he changed his name.
Author Notes: If I could give my beta a naked Brian and Justin, I would. Thanks!

This was written for the qaf_challenges icon challenge, and originally posted anonymously. Feedback would be terrific :)

*

When Gus turned six years old, he changed his name.

He didn't tell anyone. He was six so he was a big boy now - everyone kept telling him that, so it must've been true - and though he wasn't allowed to open the front door or cross the road by himself, he'd never been told that he needed permission to change his name.

He started the change in school - on every drawing, every piece of work, he signed his new name. He wrote very slow and very carefully, making absolutely sure he got every letter just right.

Gus liked how it looked. How it sounded when he spoke the words, but when he had roll-call the next day and Mrs Pinkerton still called him Peterson Marcus - when she had clearly seen his new name - Gus frowned in confusion. That wasn't what was supposed to happen at all. So he told her his new name.

Mrs Pinkerton looked surprised, but didn't argue with him. In fact, she didn't say anything at all.

Mommy and Momma didn't say anything either, until they all sat down for dinner. JR was making a mess, as usual. She was such a *kid*. Gus knew he'd never been like that.

"So, honey," Mommy said as Momma wiped JR's chin, "we got a call from Mrs Pinkerton today?" Gus didn't know why she made it a question. "She said you have another surname."

"Yes," he agreed, trying to trap a single pea with his fork.

"I'm surprised we didn't know about it," she continued.

JR laughed, bashing her plastic spoon against her bowl.

"I'm a big boy," he told her, trapping the pea between his fork and a piece of carrot.

"You certainly are," Mommy agreed, "but you know a name change is a very big decision, not something you can just-"

"Gus," Momma interrupted, wiping JR's chin again. "What Mommy's saying is that while you can call yourself anything you want, it's not actually legal until you're an adult. There are rules and paperwork that needs to be done if you want to make it official, but we have to do it for you because - even though you are a big boy - it's not something you can do yourself yet. And, sweetheart," she paused, "if you really do want to change your name, it's something we need to talk about first. We're your mommies. We have a say too."

Gus didn't really understand what most of that meant. "I want Daddy's name."

He saw them look at each other, before Momma spoke again. "Why, Gus?"

Shrugging, he finally caught the pea, sticking it with his fork. "If I have his name, then it's like he's really here."

Mommy and Momma didn't say anything about it again after that. But they did look at each other until JR decided to throw something on the floor.

She was *such* a kid.

*

One day, Gus came home from school to find Daddy sitting in the living room.

"Daddy!" Dropping his bag for school, Gus ran towards him.

Standing up, Daddy grabbed him and pulled him into a big hug. "Hey, Sonny Boy. You miss your old man?"

"Yes!" Gus yelled, still held in Daddy's arms. "I didn't know you were here!" Mommy moved to stand next to them, and she was smiling. Gus realised that she'd known, and she'd driven him all the way home from school without saying a word. She was really good at keeping secrets, even though she said secrets were a bad thing.

Gus didn't care. Daddy was here.

"Hey, Gus."

Gus thought he knew that voice, and when Daddy turned them both around to look, he saw Justin walk out of the kitchen. "Justin!" Daddy *and* Justin! He asked Daddy to let him down, and then he ran over to get a hug from Justin.

Gus had the best night. He told Daddy and Justin all about school and his friends - he hadn't liked it at first, because Daddy and Justin and Grandma Debbie and Uncle Mikey were so far away - and he showed them drawings he'd done that he was going to send to them but now he didn't have to because they were there.

Justin told him his use of colour was really good, and Daddy couldn't stop looking where Gus had scrawled his name across the top of the paper.

"So, Sonny Boy," Daddy said later, when he tucking him into bed because Gus had asked him to, "I hear you have a new name."

"Yes," Gus agreed, sliding under the covers.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Daddy pulled the covers up tighter around him. "Gus...you know I..." Stopping, he glanced away. "You know that just because I'm not here all the time, that doesn't mean I'm not thinking about you, right?"

"Right," Gus nodded.

"And that I love you, all the time. That's never going to change."

"I love you too, Daddy."

Smiling, Daddy ruffled his hair. "Look, I'm not gonna give you some bullshit talk about how you're not old enough to know what you want, because sometimes I think when we're kids we know what we want more than at any other time - Christ, I think Justin knew what he wanted the moment he popped out of the womb."

Daddy didn't seem to be making much sense, but Gus did know one thing. "You said a bad word." There was a whole list of things Gus wasn't allowed to say and that adults weren't supposed to say either, but sometimes he heard them say them anyway.

"You're right, I did," Daddy agreed, but he didn't seem upset about it. "Gus," he said seriously, "if you really want to change your name then go ahead and do it - provided your moms don't mind - but don't ever think that you need to do it to prove that I'm your father, or that I love you, because I am and I do, okay?"

Gus was glad that Daddy said he could do it. But even more glad that Daddy loved him. "Okay, Daddy."

Nodding, Daddy made sure Gus was ready for the night. "Okay, bucko - did you brush your teeth?"

"You were *there*, Daddy." They'd brushed their teeth together, Gus standing on a box next to the sink.

"So I was," he said, "but you know, you're a Kinney now. We're sneaky. You might've been tricking me."

"I wasn't tricking you!" Gus promised. "Look!" he said, opening his mouth wide and sticking his tongue out.

Daddy inspected his mouth closely. "Hmm. Yeah." He tipped his head to one side. "I don't think I've ever seen a cleaner mouth, and trust me, I'm pretty sure Ted disinfects." Pleased, Gus closed his mouth. "Now," Daddy said, "do you want me to read you a story or something?"

"No," Gus rolled his eyes. "Only babies like JR get stories. I'm a big boy now."

"Oh, well," Daddy shrugged. "My mistake. But you still want the nightlight on, right?"

Gus did.

*

Daddy and Justin were staying for a week. A whole *week*.

The next day was the weekend, and Daddy borrowed Mommy's car, muttering something about the stupid rental agency messing up. Gus hated having to sit in a kid's seat, but he wasn't tall enough to be out of one yet.

"Okay, Sonny Boy," Daddy said from the front when they were all ready to go. "Justin and I don't really know Toronto very well. How 'bout you take us to some of your favourite places?"

Gus wasn't sure how to get everywhere by car, but the park was easy - just a few blocks down. It was cold out, but when they started running around in the park, Gus began to warm up. Justin went on the swings with him, and the teeter-totter, and Gus saw Daddy taking lots of pictures with a camera.

He wanted to go the bowling alley next, but couldn't remember the way. Daddy quickly found out, calling Mommy for directions.

Gus loved bowling. He'd only been three times ever, and Momma always insisted he could only use the lightest ball, and he could never bowl by himself, and he hardly ever knocked more than two pins down. But he loved it.

Daddy was really good. Every time he knocked down all of the pins. Justin wasn't as good, but he was better than Gus and sometimes managed to knock all the pins down, too.

When it was Gus' turn, Daddy usually helped - but sometimes it was Justin - making sure he didn't hurt himself, teaching him how to bowl better.

But Justin was the one who got hurt.

It'd been Justin's turn to bowl, and he'd picked up the ball and begun to swing it towards the lane, when he said a bad word and dropped the ball, making it thump loudly to the floor. Saying the bad word again, he cradled his hand against his chest.

"Hey," Daddy rushed towards him, "you okay?"

"Fine," Justin said, although he still looked like he was in pain. "I've been working a lot for the show lately - a lot of fine detail - and then-"

"You went bowling," Daddy said, sounding annoyed. "Use your other hand."

"I know," Justin sighed, "I just have better control with this one."

"Losing is worth the lack of pain."

Justin stared at him. "You think I'm gonna lose?"

"It's a given," Daddy grinned.

Prodding Daddy in the chest with his good hand, Justin kissed him briefly on the lips. "We'll see about that, mister."

"Justin?" Gus asked. "Are you okay?"

Turning and smiling at him, Justin nodded. "I'm okay, thanks, Gus. It's just an old injury that hurts from time to time. I'm used to it."

Later, Gus let Justin pick where they got to each lunch.

*

That night, when they were home and too tired to play any games, Gus was allowed to put on one of his movies. Sitting on the sofa, Gus sat next to Daddy, and Daddy sat next to Justin.

Gus did like the movie but he'd seen it a lot of times, and he watched Daddy and Justin instead. They didn't seem to really be watching the movie either. Daddy had Justin's bad hand in both of his, rubbing his thumb against it. Every now and then he'd kiss the side of Justin's head, and sometimes Justin would turn his head towards him so they could kiss. After that they'd usually whisper something to each other, grinning, and Gus would feel weird and look away.

Knowing that Momma was upstairs on the phone and Mommy was in the kitchen making dinner, Gus said he needed a drink and would get it himself, and excused himself from the sofa.

Walking into the kitchen, he saw Mommy stirring something in a saucepan. "Mommy," he said, careful not to get too close when she was cooking. "Daddy and Justin love each other, don't they?"

Looking surprised, she adjusted something by the saucepan, and turned to face him properly. "Of course they love each other, Gus."

"But they're not married."

"No, they're not," she agreed. "Marriage isn't for everyone - everybody's different. It might not be right for them, but that doesn't mean that they don't love each other very, very much."

Gus thought about what it'd been like today, out with Daddy and Justin. It'd felt like being part of a family, just like when he was with Mommy and Momma. "So even if they're not married, can they both be my daddies, like you and Momma are both my mommies?"

Bending down closer, Mommy smiled brighter. "Gus, I think Justin would be deeply honoured, and absolutely love you calling him Daddy. But it's something you need to talk about with him and Daddy, okay?"

"Okay!" Gus yelled, running out of the kitchen to do just that.

But when he got to the sofa, they were both asleep.

He poked Daddy in the leg, but he didn't move.

Gus huffed.

Hearing a sound, he turned to see Momma walking into the room, putting the baby monitor on the table. "Hey, Gus." She looked over to the sofa. "They couldn't keep up with you, huh?"

Gus scratched the side of his nose. "Momma, can I have something to draw with, please?"

A few minutes later, Gus sat hunched over the end of the coffee table, writing his new-new name out, over and over again, plotting ways to get his mommies to let him change it.

He liked it.

~FINIS

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