Quo Vadis?

The guys had just settled themselves down in front of the fake fireplace. Brian had an enigmatic look on his face and Justin was wondering about that. He did not have long to wonder.

"Baby," Brian began the conversation, "We are going to be in Atlanta from Wednesday to Sunday of the week after next. Justin looked a bit confused so Brian continued. "I have to be in Atlanta on some business and I want you to come along."

"I'm not sure I can get away, Bri," Justin began before he was interrupted.

"Yeah, you can get away, and you will," Brian told him. "I want you to come along."

"You're getting pretty bossy, Mr. Kinney," Justin started out only to be interrupted once more.

"You know, Sweetheart," Brian smiled at him. "I was going to tell you I had to be away and wait for you to say you wanted to come too, before I told you it was Atlanta, but I decided to just come out with the whole thing and insist that you come with me."

"I don't know what you mean, Bri," Justin responded. "Why would Atlanta make any difference?"

"You do too know what I mean, Baby, and you know why Atlanta makes a difference," Brian told him, "And that's exactly why I want you to go along. You'll have a good time. We'll have dinner one night, I think we decided on Wednesday, with your old pal, Hotlanta, and his new boy-friend, and you can brag one more time about how you turned that temporary setback into ultimate victory."

Justin had to smile at that remark. "Some victory," Justin groused in jest. "I ended up with some big bossy bully who forces me to do stuff I maybe don't want to do."

"You have to be careful what you wish for," Brian cautioned him. "And whom you decide to stalk."

"I am learning," Justin retorted with a big smile. A period of silence followed that exchange. Each of the guys was thinking, and also wondering what the other was thinking.

It was Justin who finally broke the silence. "If we're in Atlanta, I guess I'll have to call my cousin Wilson," he said.

"Maybe not," Brian replied. "I've already arranged for Wilson to meet us at our hotel Friday afternoon so we'll have plenty of time to spend with your good-looking cousin."

"The good-looking cousin who looks a lot like me?" Justin seemed to relax. "Does that make me good looking too?"

"Oh you'll pass, Kiddo," Brian told him. "And I can assure you that it's you that I'm taking to Atlanta and it's you I'll be bringing home. I have no intention whatever of leaving you in Atlanta and bringing Wilson back home with me. I know that's hard for you to believe because of your innate humility, but it's true just the same."

"Cut it out, Brian," Justin insisted. "It's just that Wil's as good-looking as me and he is a lot nicer. Why would anyone want me when they could have him?"

"Well maybe they couldn't have him," Brian conjectured, "Or maybe they're so much of a masochist that they really like having somebody around who can be a genuine pain a lot of the time."

"Gee whiz, Brian Kinney," Justin purred. "You sure know a lot of different ways to say 'I love you.' I never know how you're going to say it next."

"But I do say it," Brian responded.

"Yeah, you do," Justin admitted.

"And I do mean it," Brian added.

"I know you do," Justin admitted further.

"Maybe someday you'll explain to me then, why you get so up tight when we're going to see Wilson," Brian suggested.

"I'm not sure I could explain it, Bri," Justin told him. "You know I'm kind of a complex personality, don't you?"

"Oh yeah," Brian agreed, "And complex personality is a good way to put it. I'll have to remember that. Sometimes…."

But it was now Brian's turn to be interrupted. "Never mind, Honey," Justin broke in. "I don't need to know everything. I just need to know you love me. I love you too."

"Yeah, I know," Brian told him as they cuddled just a little closer and let the conversation die out again.

To no one's surprise, it was Justin who broke the silence again. "You know what, Brian," he said. "You aren't bossy very often but I guess I have to confess that I kind of liked it when you were bossing me around tonight. It's OK if you do that every once in a while, as long as you don't do it too often. See what a complex personality I have."

"Well if we're confessing secrets tonight," Brian laughed, "Maybe I should tell you that I boss you around a lot more than you think I do. When I want you to do something I just get you to think it's your idea and, if necessary, I pretend I'm against it to make sure you'll want to do it. I guess I'm kind of a complex personality too."

"Complex?" Justin questioned. "I don't call that 'complex.' I call that 'sneaky.' You know how you always say you are going to Ibiza or someplace when you want to get away from me. Well I think I'm going to go to Warsaw. What do you think of that, Mr. Kinney?"

"You're tough, Mr. Taylor," Brian admitted. "Just postpone your trip to Warsaw until we get back from Atlanta, and I'll go to Warsaw with you if you'll let me."

"You do know a lot of ways to say 'I love you,' Kinney," Justin marveled. "A lot of ways."

"You didn't always know that," Brian reminded him.

"No I didn't," Justin admitted, "But we live and learn, don't we?"

"Yeah," Brian agreed. "That's what it's like when two complex personalities get together. You know what, Baby. I don't think your cousin Wilson has a complex personality at all."

"I think you're right, Bri," Justin agreed back. "Wilson is way too nice to have a complex personality. That's probably why you like me more than him. But, Bri, you know I would have gone with you to Atlanta anyway, just because you wanted me to."

"Yeah I know," Brian told him, ushering in another quiet period which Brian would have allowed to go on forever.

Justin however, with his complex personality, had only a limited tolerance for silence, regardless of how much he was enjoying it. "Where do you think we should go when we get back from Warsaw?" he eventually asked the big guy.

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