Thanks, and yeah, it's not that he doesn't like to be caught caring, but being caught having emotions OTHER than the passive. "meh, i'll buy him stuff" is still something Brian's working on.
in my head this fic was between Brothers' Keeper and KIT (there's a three year block of time that's unaccounted for) so i like to think that one year, they had a fight after thanksgiving, and resolved it in some expensive lodge with at least two fireplaces and wireless internet, a week before christmas.
but that's just me and my head... you can set it whenever you want.