Criticism

"Maybe I've been being too hard on you," Brian was explaining to Justin as they got themselves settled in front of their fake fireplace early on a winter evening. "So I've decided to quit criticizing you entirely."

"Then what will we talk about?" Justin wanted to know.

"We'll have to think of something," Brian maintained. "We always tell each other we can talk about anything."

"Are we going to quit arguing too?" Justin asked.

"That would be a good idea," Brian concluded. "We ought to quit arguing unless we really have something to argue about."

"So we won't quit arguing then, " Justin posited.

"Maybe not," Brian allowed, "But I am still going to quit criticizing you."

"What if there's something to criticize?" Justin said.

"I can't think of anything about you that I'd ever want to criticize," Brian insisted.

"And do I have to quit criticizing you?" Justin proceeded with the questioning.

"Baby," Brian wanted to know, "What is there about me you'd want to criticize?"

"I can't think of anything," Justin admitted.

"Well there you have it," Brian concluded, "No more criticism in this loft."

"OK, I guess," Justin replied.

"You don't sound like you think this is a good idea." Brian reacted.

"I hope you're not criticizing me because I'm not sure this idea will work," Justin responded.

"You're beginning to sound as if you like it when I criticize you." Brian decided. "But you're always complaining because I pick on you."

"Well I'm not really complaining that you're picking on me," Justin told him. "It's more like I'm just pointing it out that you're picking on me."

"Isn't that the same thing?" Brian asked.

"Not exactly, Bri," Justin answered. "I don't know if I want you to quit picking on me."

"You don't?" Brian wondered,

"No, I'm not sure that's a good idea at all," Justin came back

"I don't get it," Brian complained. "Sometimes I can't figure you out."

"Well, I learn from your criticism," Justin told him, "And I sometimes learn from your picking on me too."

"That's interesting," Brian decided, "So you profit from when I criticize you."

"Not exactly profit, Brian," Justin smiled. "I get the feeling that you mostly like to criticize me when I can do something better than you, so that's how I learn what my strong points are."

"Baby," Brian laughed at him, "You're deliberately making it hard for me to be nice. How can I not criticize when you pull something like that?"

"Well that's just what I'm saying, Sweetheart," Justin responded. "I wonder if you've thought this thing through."

"That sounds like criticism to me," Brian groused. "This is what I get for even trying to be nice."

Justin put his head on Brian's shoulder and Brian couldn't think of anything to criticize about that. Brian squeezed Justin and Justin was not about to complain about that, so they sat together for a while, enjoying just being with each other.

"Baby," Brian broke the silence, "Maybe I was wrong. If you want me to criticize you every once in a while, I guess I could find something to criticize."

"Oh I'm sure you'll think of something," Justin said, "And I guess you'll be picking on me too?"

"Kiddo, I never picked on you," Brian replied, "But I know what you call picking on you and I can do that if you want me to."

"Maybe that would be the best thing," Justin agreed, and silence fell again on the loft.

After a while, Justin restarted the conversation. "Brian," he wondered, "All this discussion about criticism. What made you think of it? It just seems like it came out of nowhere. We get along pretty well, don't we? My mom and dad used to fight more than we do."

"Yeah," Brian told him. "We get along fine. I just want to make sure it stays that way."

"C'mon, Brian," Justin insisted. "There's more. We can talk about anything."

"Yeah," Brian told him, "We can. Kinnetics got a new account. It's some motivational stuff. One of their big things is how to get along with people. Their guy was in today and he was telling me that relationships where there's a lot of criticism don't last."

"And you want ours to last?" Justin inferred.

"Yeah, I do." Brian responded. "Don't you?"

"That is so romantic, Bri," Justin told him. "Of course I want ours to last. And it will. But haven't you always said we have an unconventional relationship? So the regular rules don't apply to us."

"Well maybe some of them ought to," Brian thought out loud.

"I don't think you have anything to worry about," Justin assured him.

"But don't you ever worry even a little bit?" Brian wanted to know.

"Of course, that's natural," Justin replied. "Nobody would want to lose what we have."

"So I guess we ought to leave well enough alone then," Brian concluded.

"I really think that would be best," Justin said in reply. And that settled that. The guys just sat there again for a little while, contentedly watching the flames flicker.

Finally Justin broke the silence. "Can I ask you something, Bri?' he began. "You're probably not going to want to do this but…."

"Geez, Sunshine,' Brian interrupted. "Things were going so well. Sometimes you can be a real pain in the ass."

"Guess what, Honey," Justin told him, "You'll never know how glad I am to hear you say that."

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