Fun At the Amusement Park

Justin had the fire lit and he seemed just a bit nervous as he waited for Brian to join him in front of the fake flames. The heating element in the fireplace was turned off for the summer, of course, and the air-conditioner was working silently to cool the loft. Still Justin appeared to be sweating and Brian noticed that fact as he parked himself in his usual place on the floor next to the kid. There wasn't much about Justin that Brian didn't notice.

"How bad is this going to be?" Brian smiled at the twink. "My guess is 'pretty bad.'"

"Brian," Justin began tentatively. "I'm gonna tell you something and I want you to know beforehand that I just found it out today. This is the first time I've had a chance to tell you and I'm going to tell you. I don't want you to think I keep any secrets from you at all. I didn't know. Other people knew but I didn't. You gotta believe that, Bri. I didn't know a thing about it till Hunter let it slip this afternoon."

"Hunter knew something before you did?" Brian marveled. "The great Justin Taylor must be failing badly and his lines of communication need to be up-graded. This has to be some really big stuff so how come you didn't know, at least before Hunter?"

"There are just some things people are scared to tell me, Bri," Justin explained. "Nobody wanted to tell me."

Brian had to laugh out loud. "People are afraid to tell stuff to Justin Taylor," he chortled. "We know everybody's afraid to tell anything at all to mean old Brian Kinney so he never knows anything till the secretive little twink decides to tell him, but this is a really new thing if they're afraid to tell you. What have you done to scare them? I guess some of mean old Brian has finally rubbed off on kind sweet little Justin."

Justin had to smile just a little himself. "Maybe, but not any of the bad stuff has rubbed off on me, Bri. They're not afraid of me like they are of you, Sweetheart," Justin responded. "Not at all. They know I'm always very understanding and helpful. What they do know is that I have to tell you all the stuff that you might not like and they feel sorry for me."

"So everybody feels sorry for you because you're stuck with me, eh?" Brian was still laughing. "They're probably right though. I'll bet I am tough to live with."

"Cut it out, Kinney," Justin came back. "Although maybe they do feel a little sorry for me being stuck with you. They don't see all your good points like I do though. I'm really happy to be stuck with you and I think you know that. It's just that there are a few times …."

"And this is one of them?" Brian interjected.

"This is definitely one of them," Justin confirmed. "I gotta tell you this and then you're gonna get mad, and probably blame me, but I bet everything will be OK by the time we turn the fireplace off. I hope so anyhow."

"Well if I'm going to be the big villain in this story," Brian mused. "I guess it's good that you have me laughing to start with. I think it's really funny that they're afraid to tell you something. Who all knew about this big news event before you anyhow?"

"Everybody," Justin admitted. "Mel and Linz, Mikey and Ben, Malcolm and Hunter. I'm pretty sure Emmett and Ted knew, and I think Gus knew too."

"Geez, Baby," Brian told him. "You are slipping. You must feel terrible about being next to the very last to know something. Maybe I should promise not to get mad when you tell me. That might make you feel better."

"No," Justin answered. "I don't want you to promise that. I know you've never broken a promise to me so I don't want you to promise me anything now. You might not be able to keep your promise."

"Well this is beginning to arouse my curiosity, Baby," Brian admitted. "Why don't you just remember how much I love you and tell me what nobody wanted to tell you? We can get that over with and maybe get on to something else that we both might enjoy more."

"This year's gay and lesbian picnic is at Kennywood Park the week after next, Bri," Justin began.

"We've known that since last year, Baby," Brian interrupted. "Are you telling me what you want to tell me or are you just changing the subject?"

Justin did not acknowledge the interruption. "Linz and Mel have this friend who loves roller coasters and has never been to Kennywood. They were telling this friend how great the Kennywood coasters are and now she wants to go with us to the picnic."

"Cut to the chase, Kiddo," Brian cut in. "If this is something I'm not going to like, I'm not getting the picture. I know Linz and Mel have some weird friends. Remember Leda. So we'll just meet this friend at the park and if we don't like her, we'll ignore her. What's the problem, Baby? We might even like her when we meet her."

"You've already met her, Bri," Justin told him. "That's what the problem is. And you don't like her and you're not very good at ignoring her either. Penelope is coming to Kennywood with us."

"Penelope Brown, maybe? Penelope Smith?" Brian hoped. "You're not talking about Penelope Shellcoff, Malcolm's sister, the one with the awful dog. That could be a disaster."

"Well we better get ready for the disaster, Bri," Justin said. "Henny and Penny will be here for a couple of days so that Penny can ride the coasters. Henrietta the Eighth won't be going to Kennywood because they don't allow dogs even if they have won 'Best in Show.'"

Brian didn't respond so Justin kept going. "They're gonna stay with Mel and Linz, and I'm gonna see that you don't get bothered any more than what's absolutely necessary. I'm going to protect you, Brian. You can count on me. Try not to be upset."

Brian still didn't say anything and Justin got mildly alarmed. "You're OK, aren't you, Bri?" he asked. I hope you're not too mad. You can see I didn't have anything to do with it, can't you?"

"We could get the seat behind her on that coaster that goes like about a mile high and then when it gets to the very top of the highest part….." Brian pondered out loud.

"Cut it out, Bri" Justin pleaded. "You're scaring me. I think you're joking but I'm not all that sure."

"And I know a guy who raises pit bulls for fighting," Brian continued. "We can take Henrietta over to meet them. Bet they'll be glad to meet a 'Best in Show'?"

"Brian Kinney," Justin went on. "Will you please quit that scary stuff and go ahead and get mad and blame me for this whole thing so we can get it over with?"

"I am only kidding, Baby," Brian ran his hand through the kid's hair. "I know this is not your fault. I'll get through it and I won't embarrass you either. And you know what else, I won't tell anybody that I didn't get mad, so you can take the credit for taming the savage beast yet another time and get all that sympathy from everybody."

"And it will keep you're reputation intact too," Justin smiled at the big guy. "I know how you like to keep your reputation as big bad Brian. So I won't mention that you didn't get real mad either. And we'll have fun at Kennywood, Bri. We will. But we're not going on any coasters with Penelope and you're not going to see Henrietta the Eighth at all. And that's how it's gonna be so no arguments."

Brian did not respond and the conversation died out for a while at this point. Later on, Justin resumed the talk. "You know, Brian," he said softly. "You can really surprise me. Sometimes I just don't know what you're going to do."

"And sometimes you do know what I'm going to do, don't you?" Brian whispered back. "I'll bet you know what I'm going to do right now."

"Well I can hope," Justin answered flashing a coy smile. And Justin was right-on this time.

And, furthermore, everything was OK by the time they turned off the fireplace, just as Justin had, maybe not so confidently, predicted earlier in the evening.

Return to Fireside Chats