Monsters, Inc.

The fireplace was lit. The guys were in place. Nothing had been said for a long time. Brian wondered if maybe this was the quiet before the storm. He needn't have wondered.

"Brian," Justin said. "You like to pick on me."

"Au contraire," Brian replied. "I do not like to pick on you."

"Well if you don't," Justin argued. "You sure spend a lot of time doing it."

"The truth is, Baby," Brian admitted. "I do like to pick on people, but I do not like to pick on you. However, if I do pick on you every once in a long while, I would have to say it's your own fault."

The battle was thus joined. "What are you saying, Kinney," Justin demanded, "That I'm like obnoxious or something and deserve to be picked on all the time."

"Au contraire encore," Brian retorted. "It is true that I think you try to get me to 'what you call pick on you' sometimes in order to soften me up so I'll do something that you want me to do, something that no sane person would ever do. But that's not the main reason. I don't have anybody else to pick on now. I used to be at Woodie's or Babylon or places like that. I always had Ted or Emmett or somebody like them to pick on. Michael and Melanie too. There were lots of people to pick on. Then you came along and made me fall in love with you and so now I only have you to pick on, not that I ever do it. So whatever you're bitching about, it's your own fault."

Justin resisted smiling only with great effort. "Forget the 'love' stuff, Kinney," Justin told him. "You're not getting me off the subject this time. So you're saying I've created a Frankenstein's monster, are you?"

"If that's what I was saying," Brian reasoned, "I'd be saying that I was a monster, so that's not what I'm saying."

"Well then that's what I'm saying, Brian Kinney," Justin replied. "And the funny thing is that I wouldn't even know about Frankenstein's monster if it wasn't for you and Mikey and your crazy obsession with horror movies. I don't think I ever saw a Frankenstein movie till I moved in here."

"But you did watch horror movies," Brian countered. "I'm sure you told me that you and Daphne used to watch Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde every Halloween. That's a horror movie in my book."

"It was actually a scary movie, Bri," Justin had to admit "But it didn't scare me all that much because I never believed it could ever happen. I didn't believe that there could ever be a real Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - until I met you, that is."

"And which one of us did you tirelessly pursue, Twink?" Brian wanted to know, "Brian Jekyll or Brian Hyde?"

Justin tried valiantly to refrain from laughing but he failed. "You know, Bri," he said. "I think we've had this argument before."

"Maybe we have, Baby," Brian thought it over. "I can't swear to it but the whole thing does sound a little bit familiar."

"Gee whiz," Justin recoiled. "I hope we haven't been together so long that we have to repeat our arguments."

"Never, Sweetheart," Brian assured him. "We'll be together for maybe a hundred years and I don't think there will ever be a day that we can't find something new to fight about."

"Doggone it, Brian," Justin told him. "I don't know if you're Jekyll or Hyde but you can be really romantic when you want to be."

"Even when I'm picking on you?" Brian wanted to know.

"No comment," Justin maintained his position. But the no comment grew into a sustained period of silence with absolutely no outward evidence of any disagreement between the two of them. Au contraire, actually.

"OK," Brian eventually reintroduced the discussion. "Just what the hell was that all about? Did you just feel like arguing or were you trying to soften me up? I don't think you were seriously complaining."

"Just because I never seriously complain, I guess?" Justin came back.

"Answer the question, Twink," Brian demanded. "Brian Hyde is trying to get out so you better answer the question."

"Neither of the above," Justin insisted. "Not the way you worded it anyhow. I was not trying to soften you up."

"So you were trying to soften me up, were you?" Brian grinned. "Well what is it now that I won't want to do?"

"Never mind," Justin answered. "Forget it."

"I would if you would," Brian was laughing now, "But you won't, so instead of trying some other tactic, I want you to tell me in simple words what you want. Right now. Got it?"

"Daphne's sorority is having a party a week from Friday and I want you to come with me," Justin confessed. "There will be a lot of people there, some gay couples too, who don't know you, and I want to show you off."

"You want to show me off," Brian echoed. "You do think of me as Frankenstein's monster."

"Cut it out, Brian," Justin complained. "Forget about the party. But if you had a guy as hot as you, I bet you'd want to show him off too."

"I do," Brian squeezed the kid a little tighter, "And I do. So we'll go to the party, and show off the monsters we've created. The warning may save some of those young innocents."

"Brian," Justin responded. "I really love you and all that, but you didn't give me a chance to tell you that the party is a costume party."

"What the hell," Brian got giddy. "Just get us some costumes and we'll go. Pick anything you want for me, but if you're showing me off, maybe you shouldn't pick a monster outfit."

"Honey," Justin smiled at him. "If I wanted you to go as a monster, I don't think you'd need a costume at all."

"If I were you, Baby," Brian advised Justin, "I think I'd quit while I was ahead. Unless that is, you've got something else up your sleeve."

"See, Bri," Justin responded. "You're picking on me again. And I have nothing at all up my sleeve - nothing at all. And I do love you and I always take your advice so I'll quit while I'm ahead."

And he did. There was another quiet period for the boys to enjoy. As always, it didn't last.

"I don't know who I tirelessly pursued, Brian," Justin said. "That was a good question. I think I maybe chased you no matter who you were. I just fell in love with the whole you. And you were in love with me too but you didn't know it. So you were kind of lucky. What would you have done if I hadn't pursued you?"

"Well just maybe I would have pursued you, Twink," Brian grinned at him. "But I didn't have to, did I? And it's a lot better to be the chasee than the chaser."

"Brian Kinney," Justin stared at him. "You are a monster. A real monster. And not one I created either. You were a monster before I met you and you're a monster now."

"So do you still love me?" Brian asked him.

"More than ever," Justin admitted.

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