Primal Scream

It was about ten o'clock when the guys returned to the loft together. They both looked tired but Justin quickly lit the fireplace and Brian just as quickly got himself into position watching the flickering flames

"Can we just sit here for a while without saying anything?" Brian asked the kid.

"Don't we always do exactly what you want?" Justin suppressed a smile. "I won't say anything till you decide you want to say something."

And it was a while before Brian wanted to say anything. Finally though, with his arms around Justin, he broke the silence. "One of the worst days of my life," he began.

"Brian, Honey," Justin replied, "I tried to protect you. I tried to get you not to go but you wouldn't listen to me."

"You're not supposed to be protecting me," Brian gruffed. "I'm supposed to be the one who does the protecting around here."

"And you do protect me all the time, Bri," Justin said. "I know that and I appreciate it a lot but there are just a few times though when maybe I can protect you and this was one of them."

"Well you didn't tell me…," Brian went on.

"I tried to tell you, Bri," Justin answered. "I tried to tell you. I told you Penelope would get on your nerves and that you shouldn't go."

"Well Malcolm isn't so bad and I kind of like Abelard," Brian reasoned, "So I thought I could at least tolerate their sister."

"Bri, Sweetheart," Justin told him. "I know you real well, and I had met Penelope before, so I knew what would happen. You know she's probably going to Harvard for graduate school but her mother wanted her to check out Pitt because they have a real expert in Penelope's field and he happens to be a friend of her mother. She's only in Pittsburgh for the weekend. You had to meet her while she was here but you didn't have to spend the whole day with us. I think I had to, but you didn't. I warned you that Malcolm didn't want her to come to Pitt and Abe didn't want her at Ohio State. I really tried to get you not to come but you can be pretty insistent sometimes."

"Cut it out, Twink," Brian insisted. "You know damn well you can always trick me into doing what you want me to do, so it's really your fault that I went. You should have talked me out of it."

Justin had to smile at him. "OK, Mr. Kinney, sir, I admit I can usually trick you into doing exactly what I want you to do," Justin told him, "But I think I can only trick you into doing what I want you to do when that's what you really want to do anyhow. There are times when my best manipulation doesn't work and this was one of them."

"You could have mentioned that she had that stupid dog with her," Brian kept on.

"Henrietta the Eighth," Justin remembered. "Now that's really a dog and a half. She's some kind of a champion in that crazy breed she is."

"Well if they gave blue ribbons for ear-piercing yips that never let up, that dog would win every blue ribbon in sight," Brian said through a half smile. "I thought that hound made the worst sounds I ever heard till Penelope herself began to talk. Her voice is a lot like the dog's yipping and she says dumb things too. At least the dog doesn't express any opinions."

"Brian," Justin reminded him. "Penelope was Phi Beta Kappa at Notre Dame and is a top candidate for a Rhodes scholarship so she can't be all that dumb," Justin laughed. "I'll admit her voice is just a bit squeaky though, and she does sound a lot like the dog."

"Well she must be dumb," Brian broadened the smile just a little. "She didn't agree with me on anything. And what smart person would name a dog Henrietta the Eighth? She can't have had seven other dogs named Henrietta already. Penelope's only twenty, isn't she?"

"Yeah," Justin replied. "Actually the dog is named after her sire. Her father was a big champion in that breed. He was Henry the Eighth but there was a lot of other name in between 'Henry' and 'the Eighth.' I do think Henry the Eighth was really the eighth Henry though. Penny's old dog was named Lucia di Lammermoor."

"You know, Baby," Brian stopped him. "That may be as much as I need to know about the dog - and about Penelope. You know, I think they're both ugly too."

Hey, Bri," Justin disagree in part, "Henrietta is pretty ugly, I agree, but Penelope is actually a good-looking girl. Abe says that there are a lot of guys at Notre dame chasing her. She's real popular there."

"Well I'll bet you the guys who are chasing her are all straight," Brian stuck to his guns. "No gay guy would be dumb enough to chase after her."

"You have a good point there, Brian," Justin was laughingly forced to agree. "I bet too that the guys who are chasing her are all straight. Us gay guys are way too smart to be chasing Penelope."

"And they better be deaf too," Brian continued, "Or at least hard of hearing - or else she'll drive them crazy - even if she is good-looking which I am not admitting at all."

"Brian, Sweetheart," Justin replied. "Are you trying to tell me that Penelope somehow rubbed you the wrong way?"

"OK," Brian laughed back at him. "Take her side if you want to. I should have known you wouldn't be on my side."

"That's not fair, Brian," Justin complained. "I think you were right in all the arguments you had with Penny today. I agreed with you that her voice is a pain in the ear and that she is a pain in the …."

"You're supposed to agree with me all the time though," Brian interrupted. "You're my boy-friend."

"OK, Bri," Justin continued laughing. "I guess I should always agree with you since you're my boy-friend, just like you always agree with me because I'm your boy-friend."

"Wait a minute, Twink," Brian groused good-naturedly. "You're trying to pull something on me while my ears are still ringing from the twin yips of Henny and Penny."

"Am not," Justin told him, burrowing his head into Brian's cheek. Justin must have been convincing because Brian did not reply and a prolonged period of silence followed.

Justin eventually broke the satisfying silence. "OK, Bri," he said. "Penelope is leaving town about noon tomorrow and I have to have breakfast with them but you don't have to. I'll make some excuse and I'll send Abe over here to say 'good-bye' to you cause I know he'll want to. Then, after she's gone, I'll come back and try to make it up to you for siding with Penny against you. How does that sound?"

"It sounds like you're trying to protect me and you know I don't need protection," Brian answered with seeming petulance.

"I know you don't need any protection, Bri, and that's not what I'm trying to do at all," Justin assured him. "I'm just trying to ease a delicate situation. That's all I'm trying to do."

"OK," Brian replied. "Go ahead and protect me if you think you have to, Baby. And maybe 'Thanks' too."

That made Justin feel good.

"And I love you, Kid," Brian continued. "A lot. You really do know how to fix things - and maybe even protect me just a little bit too - even if I don't need it."

And that made Justin feel even better.

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