Ah Sweet Mystery

It had been old movie night in the loft. Brian was always surprised about how much Justin loved the old movies they watched - even if Brian had picked the title specifically as a challenge for Justin's interest. So it had been that evening. Brian had chosen Naughty Marietta while in a sardonic state of mind. He figured that it would be a kind of a joke on the kid. As the guys sat themselves down on the floor in front of their fake flames, Brian had a nagging suspicion that the joke had been on him. Justin looked completely bemused.

"That was a great movie, Brian," Justin gushed. "It's amazing how you seem to know just the pictures that I'll love. I guess you really know me pretty well.'

"Oh yeah," Brian agreed, "Not that you don't come up with a surprise or two every once in a while, Baby, - but yeah, I always pick our old movies with your pleasure in mind."

"And I really love you for it," Justin went on, making Brian feel some but not a lot of guilt. "And I know you do it because you love me so much."

Brian decided not to respond, hoping to induce a period of silence to be followed by a change of subject. No such luck.

"I think I love you more than Nelson Eddy loved Jeanette MacDonald, Bri," Justin went on. "Do you love me more than Nelson Eddy loved Jeanette MacDonald?"

"You do know that Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald were not really in love. They were married to different people," Brian cautioned the kid. "But I know what you mean and I certainly do love you more than Nelson Eddy loved Jeanette MacDonald in the movie. You are way more lovable, and you'd never get yourself in all that trouble like Jeanette did."

"I know the difference between actors and the roles they play, Bri," Justin protested. "I'm not one of those crazy fans who gets the actors mixed up with the roles they play. That's pathetic. But I'm glad that you love me more than Nelson Eddy loved Jeanette MacDonald in the movie. And if you're possibly insinuating that I sometimes get myself into trouble, I forgive you because I love you so much. So there."

Brian could have responded to that but he didn't. The silence that followed was what Brian had hoped for. He was trying to figure out a way to change the subject but he wasn't fast enough.

"Would you risk your life to save me if I ever got into some kind of a fix like Jeanette MacDonald did, Brian?" Justin asked, resuming just where they had left off. "I bet you would."

"Of course I would," Brian assured him with a smile, "But I won't ever have to because you're way too smart to get yourself into any kind of fix like that. Men are smarter than women about keeping themselves out of trouble."

"I guess you're right," Justin seemed to agree. "You're better than I am at that though. You're way too smart to ever get yourself into any kind of a fix."

"Nobody's that smart, Twink," Brian responded, "But I am pretty good at it, I'll admit."

"Yeah you are," Justin agreed.

The period of quiet that enveloped the loft at that point gave Brian another chance to try to change the subject. Again though, he didn't succeed.

"There weren't any gay people in Naughty Marietta, Brian," Justin remembered. "I bet they had gay people even way back then."

"Yeah, they did," Brian agreed. "They just didn't show them in this movie because they didn't want them to show up Eddy and MacDonald."

"Gee whiz, Bri," Justin decided, "You really do know everything. If we had been in that movie, nobody would have even noticed Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. We would have shown them what real love is."

"Yeah, we would have," Brian kind of laughed, "But we weren't available when they made that movie. That's why we weren't in it."

"Now you're making fun of me and I'm just trying to talk about the movie," Justin complained. "You act like you don't want to talk about the movie at all."

"That's not it, Baby," Brian explained. "If you want to talk about the movie, I'll be glad to talk about the movie." That was not really the truth and it turned out to be a mistake on Brian's part because Justin did want to continue talking about the movie.

"You know what, Bri," Justin rebegan the discussion, "If you love me more than Nelson Eddy loved Jeanette MacDonald, how come you never sing to me? I was thinking about that when he sang 'Ah Sweet Mystery of Life' and I was thinking how neat it would be if you were singing that to me."

"You think I should sing to you?" Brian reacted.

"Well you're supposed to be in love with me," Justin reasoned, "So why not?"

"Maybe because I'm not a singer and we aren't in some MGM musical film," Brian suggested.

"Well it might not be as good as Nelson Eddy," Justin laughed, "But I wouldn't notice. I love you too much to notice any faults you might have."

"You do?" Brian seemed surprised. "That's good to know."

"Well I'll bet you could sing 'Ah Sweet Mystery of Life' if you wanted to," Justin maintained.

"I don't figure I'd be on pitch," Brian laughed uncomfortably. "I don't really consider myself much of a singer."

"And sometimes you're not very much of a romantic either," Justin complained good-naturedly. "I bet if you were really romantic, you'd want to sing to me."

"Well you are certainly a mystery of life," Brian retorted. "A genuine mystery, all right. I hardly ever know what you'll come up with next. But I want to do some thinking before I do any singing."

"Just forget it, Bri," Justin said. "It's just that I'm incurably romantic and you're not. That's OK. We still love each other and that's what really counts."

"Wait a minute, Twink," Brian argued. "I don't recall you ever singing to me if you're so romantic and that's what romantic people do."

"I did try to sing to you once, Bri," Justin reminded him. "Yes, I did. It was after we watched one of those Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers movies. I sang 'Night and Day' to you, and you got that real odd look on your face, so I never did it again."

"I didn't know I had an odd look on my face," Brian responded, "But, you know, I kind of liked it when you sang 'Night and Day' to me. I really did. Maybe it's you who should sing "Ah Sweet Mystery of Life' to me."

Justin smiled at Brian. "You know what, Bri," Justin remembered. "In the movie, 'Ah Sweet Mystery of Life' was a duet.

Brian smiled back benignly as he squeezed the kid closer to himself. It was going to be a long night but Brian was ready. He was prepared to love every minute of it. He had things finally figured out.

"You're just getting back at me for picking that movie, aren't you?" He asked the kid.

"What would make you think that?" Justin laughed at him.

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