Speaking of the Devil

The guys got back to the loft well after midnight. This was usually too late to light the fake fireplace but Brian felt a discussion coming on and, while he didn't think the fireplace was magic or anything like that, he decided it might help.

"You want to sit in front of the fireplace?" Justin seemed to be surprised. "It's pretty late."

"I think you want to do some talking," Brian explained, "So I thought we might as well have the fire lit. Wanna sit down?"

Justin did sit down next to Brian and waited for Brian to encircle him with his arm. "Aren't you glad you went?" Justin began the conversation that Brian knew was coming.

"I'm glad I went now," Brian told him. "It may have been torture to sit through, but it's over now and I won't have to listen to you complaining about me not going. So 'yeah', I'm glad I went."

"Darn it, Kinney," Justin complained. "It's hard to talk to you. I know you enjoyed yourself, and I did too. I especially loved the end when the angels saved Marguerite from the devil."

"It was about time," Brian remarked. "It took them about four hours to save Marguerite from the devil. Operas are too long and Faust is longer than most of them."

"How would you know that if you don't like opera?" Justin wanted to know. "You must know something about opera if you know that Faust is longer than most of them."

"Oh I've seen some," Brian told him. Sometimes the guys run around in little skirts and not all of them are fat. There was one guy that used to come every year to sing here, and he was really hot. I was always an opera fan when he was in town. I don't remember his name now though."

"I'm glad to hear that," Justin smiled, "And I don't think any of the guys tonight were any competition for me."

"No they weren't," Brian smiled back, "And I bet you checked them out before you told Ted we'd go with him and Blake. As curious as you were to see what was going on with those guys, I bet you'd have missed the opera if you thought I was going to have any fun."

"You are really mean to say that, Kinney," Justin objected. "I know you don't go around looking at other guys."

"Never," Brian grinned at him. "But what did you decide about Ted and Blake? That was the real reason you wanted to go."

"Well they both are real opera fans, Bri," Justin decided, "So they have that in common."

"Just like us," Brian interjected.

"Cut it out, Brian," Justin commanded. "I don't think you even want to have this discussion at all but I did think I saw a spark there with Ted and Blake. I think they'd go well together."

"But you're not going to try to help it along, are you?" Brian wanted to know.

"I am not a meddler and you know it, Kinney," Justin groused. "The fact that I asked them over here to dinner next week is not match-making. We were Ted's guests tonight and I was just kind of paying them back."

"You are good at paying people back," Brian admitted. "Really, really good."

"If I didn't love you so much, Brian Kinney," Justin conjectured, "I could get pretty mad at you."

"Don't you get pretty mad at me sometimes anyhow?" Brian questioned.

"Nah, " Justin admitted. "But I have to act that way sometimes to keep you guessing."

"Actually, you don't," Brian told me. "You don't need to pretend you're mad at me to keep me guessing."

The conversation ceased for a while at this point and Brian was convinced that Justin was not mad at him. He was also convinced that the conversation was not over. Right on both points.

"Didn't you think the opera was kind of like us, Bri?" Justin finally broke the silence.

"Like us?" Brian reacted.

"Yeah," Justin explained. "This old guy fell in love with this beautiful young person - it was a girl in the opera though - and he was willing to sell his soul to the devil to get her. You don't see any similarities to us?"

"Nope," Brian replied. "None at all."

"You mean to tell me you wouldn't have sold your soul to the devil to get me when you first looked at me and fell madly in love?" Justin seemed surprised.

"You know, Baby, " Brian came back. "I'm not saying I didn't fall madly in love with you the first time I saw you, but if I did, you were the only one who knew. And anyway, I wouldn't have had to sell my soul to the devil to get you. You pursued me pretty hard if I remember correctly. I don't think I needed the devil's help to get you. I think I could have handled the situation myself. I like to handle stuff myself. There was a time when I might have sold my soul to the devil to get rid of you though, if he had made the offer."

"You are not very romantic, Brian," Justin complained. "Sometimes I don't understand what I see in you."

"And sometimes you do?" Brian wanted to know.

"Yeah," Justin told him and another quiet period ensued. But it still wasn't over.

"Brian," Justin continued after the pause, "If I got into some awful trouble and you had to sell your soul to the devil to save me, would you do it?" Justin wondered.

"I really think I would," Brian responded. "It would actually have to happen to be sure but I think I would. I can't imagine you ever getting into any awful trouble though, and then the devil would have to make me an offer. I'm pretty sure though that I would. Yeah, I'm sure I'd sell my soul to the devil to save you from your awful trouble."

"Now that is really romantic, Honey," Justin cooed. "And I bet that after you saved me from the awful trouble, the angels would come and save you from the devil like they saved Marguerite. That's what true love is about. And we are truly in love, aren't we, Bri?"

"Yeah we are," Brian said. "Sometimes I'm surprised at how much."

"Me too," Justin agreed. "You know what, Bri?" Justin went on. "Next month's opera is Aida."

"Twink," Brian replied. "Maybe I can see you getting in some really awful trouble that you might need the angels to get you out of. I don't think the devil could manage it."

"You know what, Bri?" Justin smirked. "Let's not call in either the devil or the angels on this one yet. I think maybe I can get out of this trouble all by myself. I like to handle situations myself and this time I think I can."

"Maybe you can at that," Brian smiled at him.

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