Sliding Downhill

Justin was in his usual place in front of the fake fireplace. Brian was not, but he seemed to be trying to get there.

"This is all your fault," Brian accused the innocent looking blond twink who was waiting for him to make it to the floor - if he was ever going to.

"It is not my fault," Justin denied the accusation. "There is no way you can blame me for this. I even tried to warn you. You're not as young as you used to be."

"Now there's a profound statement, Twink," Brian retorted, "Nobody's as young as they used to be - including you. The important question is who brought that damn video home from the library. Anybody Can Ski. What a crock that is."

"Brian," Justin protested, "I did not bring that video home for you. I brought that video home for me. You said you were probably going to have to be away sometime soon for a whole weekend, or maybe even longer, at some convention, and I didn't want to be lonely so I told Malcolm I'd go skiing with him at Seven Springs while you were away. I would be so lonely here without you and you said I couldn't go with you. I never dreamed that you would want to go skiing."

"Remember last year when you dragged me ice skating," Brian reminded him, "I didn't want to go but you made such a fuss."

"That was so you could skate with Gus, Brian," Justin defended himself, "And you got to be a pretty good skater too. You're glad you went. This is entirely different. You decided to try skiing. I told you it wasn't as easy as it looked in that video. I didn't want you to go skiing. I love you. You're no good to me with a broken leg or a smashed- in head."

Brian finally made it to the floor with a thud. "Well I don't have either of those, Kiddo," Brian reminded him, "But I'm so stiff, I guess I'm no use to you anyhow."

"You could be," Justin told him, "If you'd put your arm around me or hold my hand."

"I guess I could do either or both of those," Brian admitted, "But I don't see why I should."

"There are a lot of reasons why you should," Justin laughed, "But the most immediate one would be that, if you don't, I might not help you get up, and there's no way you're going to get up by yourself, so you could be sitting there for a week. I'd bring you some chicken soup though, so you don't starve."

"So you're a blackmailer, too," Brian concluded while throwing one arm around the kid and taking his hand with the other, "Or would that be extortion?"

"Either one," Justin decided. "It's worth it though."

"You think I wouldn't have done it without a threat?" Brian wanted to know.

"No, I think you would have," Justin answered, "That's why I love you - even when you can't walk right or get up and down, or even move very well. Even when you're complaining about me, which is a good bit of the time, even when you don't say it, you act like you love me."

"You certainly can be a pain, Baby" Brian told him, "But how did you get to be such a good skier if I may ask?"

"I'm not a good skier, Bri," Justin refused the compliment, "I went a couple of times while I was at St. James. They were always having ski trips during the winter, so I learned a little bit. I haven't been on skis for years so I brought that video home as a refresher course for me. It never occurred to me that you'd be interested or I wouldn't have brought it home. I still can't figure out why you were."

"You mean you can't read my mind for once, Twink?" Brian asked him.

"I can when it's working right, Honey," the kid told him. "But we don't need to go skiing ever again. You know, Brian, you weren't doing so badly with the skiing though. You just pushed yourself too hard, too fast. If you'd act like a normal person you could have been a decent skier in a few more tries, but you have to be the best right away - that's how you are."

"And what are we going to do when Gus decides he wants to go skiing," Brian challenged, "I'm not going to be able to go with him."

"I think it's great when you can do things with Gus," Justin answered, "But we were lucky today that you finished up in one piece. Melanie can ski, Emmett told me. She'll just have to teach Gus if he wants to try the slopes."

"So you want me to give up?" Brian asked.

"Not give up," Justin responded. "You would never give up at anything. I think we should call this a responsible decision in the interest of continued good health. Surely you don't want to go out again?"

"I might," Brian informed him, "Maybe just to show you. Brian Kinney is not a quitter. Didn't you just say you thought I could learn? If you're scared to go with me, I could get Malcolm to go with me. He and Abelard were both on their high school skiing team he told me. I'll bet Abe would even come in from OSU if he knew I needed him."

"Now you're confusing me, Brian," Justin pointed out. "First you blame me because you went skiing and maimed yourself; now you're talking about going again whether I want you to or not. If you go, of course I'll go with you. It would be better than sitting around here worrying about you. But I hope you won't blame me if you end up with a fracture. You're uncontrollable, you know."

"Sunshine, I never blamed you for any of this," Brian said, "I just said it was your fault."

"That doesn't make a lot of sense, Bri," Justin replied, "I didn't think you hit your head when you ran into the tree, but maybe you did."

"Nope, I didn't," Brian assured him. "And I didn't hit my head when I flipped over and rolled down the hill either. Will you try again with me if I want to go back in a couple of days? I'll try to listen to what you tell me."

"Brian, I would do anything you want to do," Justin told him, "But I usually know what's going on with you and this skiing business is compulsive, and it's got me a little bit scared. If you insist on going though, maybe I should bring home that video again from the library. It is good on fundamentals."

"You won't have to do that," Brian told him, "I bought a copy. It's under the couch."

"Brian, you know this has really got me scared," Justin pleaded. "You're acting kind of crazy."

"I'm not crazy," Brian said as he squeezed the kid. "Baby, the convention I have to go to is late next month. It runs from Monday till Friday and I have to go. It's in Vail, Colorado." Brian told him. "I didn't want you to go because I couldn't ski and I didn't know you could ski. Remember I wasn't too good with the snowboarding. Then I saw the skiing video. I decided if we could ski even a little bit, you could come along. We could spend the weekends before and after the meetings by ourselves, and there would be some time during the week too. I'll bet you could do some sketching while I'm busy. Vail is a beautiful place but I wouldn't like it without you. So now I guess you know why it was your fault that I went skiing."

"Geez, Bri," Justin said, "You'd really be lonely without me like I'd be lonely without you?"

"Guess so," Brian muttered.

"And you want me to come to Vail with you?" Justin continued.

"Guess so," Brian muttered again.

"And you wanted to learn to ski just so that we could be together at the convention?" Justin asked.

"Guess so," Brian muttered.

"That is so romantic, Bri. Some people don't think you're romantic but they don't really know you," Justin told him. "We're going to be the best skiers at Vail. I know we will be."

"How are we gonna do that?" Brian laughed. "We'll be lucky to be able to do the amateur slopes."

"Oh no, Bri," Justin enthused. "There is an Advanced Anybody Can Ski video, and we're going to get it.

Return to Fireside Chats