Getting A Head

The situation was this. Justin had the fake fireplace ablaze and was sitting on the floor in front of it with a smile on his face. Brian was deliberately delaying in taking his place next to Justin out of good-natured contrariness. Justin had prepared an elaborate dinner for them - "for no particular reason" according to Justin. Brian suspected there might just actually be some particular reason so he hesitated in flopping onto the floor, but eventually he lined himself up next to the kid and waited. Brian knew that Justin could have whatever he wanted but he was not about to make it easy, and he knew that Justin wouldn't want the situation to develop in any other way. Some time passed before the kid began the conversation.

"You know what we haven't done lately, Bri?" he asked.

"No," Brian laughed at him, "But somehow I'm thinking that sometime very soon we will be doing whatever it is that we haven't done lately."

"Gee whiz, Kinney," Justin replied. "You always seem to be suspicious, whatever I say. It's like you don't trust me or something. You know what, I have half a notion not to tell you what we haven't done lately. It would serve you right."

"Yes it would,' Brian agreed. "But you know what, Baby, I've liked everything we have done lately so I guess I don't miss what we haven't done lately, so then I won't be too disappointed if you decide to be harsh and not tell me. Maybe you should show me how mean I am by not telling me at all."

"Well you're lucky that it was only half a notion, Sweetheart," Justin decided. "So maybe I'll tell you after all. We haven't been to a Pirates' game."

"And you think we should go?" Brian surmised. "You being such a big baseball fan and all. Do you know whether they're in first or last place?"

"Well I am a big baseball fan," Justin replied. "It's just that I've been so busy this summer that I haven't had enough time to follow the Pirates as closely as I'd like."

"Me neither," Brian responded. "So maybe it is time that we get out to the park and see our Bucs. I have several clients with luxury boxes. I can line up some good seats for a game in the next couple of weeks. See how nice I am and how easy I am to convince."

"Next Thursday, Bri," Justin told him. "I really would like to go next Thursday. If you can't get tickets for next Thursday, I'll buy them as long as you'll go with me. We need to decide though before it's a sell-out."

"Pardon me, Twink," Brian laughed. "Pardon my suspicious nature but let me make a guess right off the top of my head. They're giving away bobble-head dolls of some player you never heard of, but you never saw a bobble-head doll you didn't want."

"Wrong, Mr. Know-It-All Brian Kinney," Justin laughed back. "Absolutely wrong."

"I'm surprised," Brian admitted. "So it's not bobble-head doll night. Could it be that you really want to see the game?"

"Wait a minute, Bri," Justin cautioned him. "You're jumping to wrong conclusions now. It's not bobble-head doll night for some player I never heard of and it's not bobble-head doll night for some player I ever heard of either. But it is bobble-head doll night. They're giving away bobble-head dolls of the Pirate Parrot."

"Excuse me if I'm wrong again," Brian replied. "Sorry if I'm jumping to more conclusions, but you're dragging me to PNC Park to see a baseball game just so you can get a bobble-head doll of the mascot?"

"Well, not exactly, Honey," Justin defended himself. "I could go by myself and get a bobble-head doll if I had to. I need you to go so that you can get a bobble-head doll for Gus. He wants one too."

"So you don't really care If I'm with you at the game or not," Brian grinned, "As long as you get two bobble-head dolls of the Pirate Parrot. That's really romantic, Baby. Really really romantic. You could have asked Malcolm or Hunter or Mikey to go with you instead of me and you would still have got your two dolls."

"That's a really mean thing to say, Brian Kinney," Justin complained. "Of course, I love you and I always want you with me wherever I go and you know it, and that's why I want you to go to the game with me, and you know that too. And anyhow, Mikey and Ben and Hunter and Malcolm are already going to the game but they all want their bobble-heads."

"So you needed to find the only person in Pittsburgh who might go with you and not want to own a bobble-head doll of the Pirate Parrot," Brian summarized, "And you were lucky enough to find him right here, living in this very loft with you. That's real luck."

"And you'll go with me, won't you?" Justin surmised.

"Yeah, I'll go and I'll scrounge up the tickets too," Brian conceded, "But I'll be with you because I love you and you'll be with me because I represent a bobble-head doll that you want. That's a neat trade-off."

"Cut it out, Brian," Justin said. "You want to go to that game every bit as much as I do."

"I think that's probably true," Brian agreed as Justin put his head on Brian's shoulder and the discussion died out for a while.

After a while, Justin resumed the chat. "I guess I'll have to keep my Pirate Parrot bobble-head at the comic book store," he postulated, "With the rest of my collection. You wouldn't want to keep it here in the loft as a conversation piece, would you? People would notice it, I'll bet."

"Baby," Brian laughed. "You can keep it here if you can find a place to put it where nobody will ever see it. Otherwise it would be more popular than any of my vast priceless collection of objets d'art from all over the world."

"Never mind, Brian," Justin replied, laughing too. "I'll keep it with the others. If it was here, you'd be giving me a lot of funny looks every time you saw it."

"Don't I give you a lot of funny looks anyhow?" Brian grinned. "Or don't you notice?"

"I think I notice, Bri," Justin cuddled closer to the big guy, "But they're not because of some bobble-head doll, I hope."

"Not unless you're a bobble-head, Baby," Brian told him.

"Well I'm not," Justin responded. "I'm a real live boy. I think you'd rather have a real live boy than a bobble-head doll."

"You know what, Pinocchio," Brian informed him. "If they were giving out Justin Taylor bobble-heads at the ballpark, I think I'd want to go - and keep the doll for myself too."

"Brian Kinney," Justin said. "I think that statement may be romantic but I'll have to think about it for a while. No, I don't. That was romantic. You are a really romantic guy, Brian. I'm glad I picked you out of the crowd."

"Out of the crowd of whos or whats?" Brian wondered. "Just from whence was I selected?"

"Out of every guy in the world, Bri," Justin assured him. "I'd even rather have you than a Pirate Parrot bobble-head doll. How's that for being in love?"

"Geez, Baby, that is the absolutely most romantic thing you've ever said to me," Brian admitted.

Having thus hit their romantic high points, there wasn't any more that either of them could say, so they stopped talking for the evening.

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