As Old As You Feel

Brian was scowling as the pair placed themselves on the floor facing the fake fireplace. Justin may have been stifling a smile but he was doing a good job of it. This was not the time to smile. Not at all.

"If you didn't do it, who did?" Brian began the evening's conversation.

"OK, Brian," Justin told him. "You may just as well put your arm around me now. You won't be able to sit here all night without doing it, so do it now."

"Well I'm doing it under protest," Brian announced as he complied. "That was a really dirty trick."

"Brian, Honey," Justin cajoled. "I didn't do it. Actually, I don't think anybody did it. I don't think anybody could do it. You don't recommend somebody for AARP membership. Somehow they just know when you turn fifty, and they invite you to join."

"But I'm not fifty, Baby," Brian responded, "As you well know, so why did I get an invitation. It has to be some kind of a trick."

"Well I don't think so but even if it is a trick," Justin insisted. "I didn't do it. You ought to know I wouldn't do anything like that. I know how vain you are, for sure, and I would also know I was going to get blamed."

"Who else would hate me enough to do it then?" Brian wondered.

"I think you know I don't hate you, Brian," Justin assured him, "So you ought to know it wasn't me. I should be mad that you'd even think I would do something like that. But I'm not mad at all, Honey, and I know deep down that you're not mad either."

"Like hell I'm not mad," Brian told the kid, "But I'm not mad at you. I don't guess you'd be mean enough to do anything like that."

Justin cuddled himself up closer to Brian and the discussion had a brief hiatus. One would think Justin would be glad to let the matter drop at that point but, in fact, he didn't.

"You know what, Bri," the kid resumed the subject. "Maybe you should join. We'd get some neat discounts on a whole lot of things."

Brian's humor must have improved by this point. "And so you think I could pass for fifty?" Brian laughingly accused Justin. "That's about as bad as putting my name up for membership, Twink."

"We could figure something out, Bri," Justin maintained. "You'd be a young looking fifty but I bet we could figure something out."

"Maybe we could at that," Brian laughed. "Didn't you pass for fifty when you got into Babylon that first time to stalk me? You were using Vic's membership as I recall. Maybe you should be the one joining AARP. We'd still get those neat discounts if you were the member."

"I don't think I could pass for fifty, Bri," Justin laughed back at him. "That guy at the door knew I wasn't Vic. I think he just let me in cause I was cute."

"Yeah, you were cute back then, Baby," Brian remembered. "When you were still young. But I figure the gate-guy just let you in because he didn't like me and he could see you were a Brian Kinney-stalker."

It was Justin's turn to scowl now, but good-naturedly. "Gee, Brian Kinney, the stalked one," he said, "Now you're picking on me and I didn't do anything to deserve it either. It's not my fault you got invited to join AARP."

The ringing of Brian's cell phone may have prevented further argument at this point. Justin figured out that the caller was Mikey and he also figured out what the call was about. Brian was laughing when he ended the call.

"Mikey got invited to join AARP too?" Justin concluded.

"Yeah," Brian confirmed, "And Mikey's not too happy about it either."

"But you're laughing, Sweetheart," Justin wondered. "How come it's funny when Mikey gets invited to join AARP and a dirty trick when you get invited?"

"Mikey's older than me," Brian grinned. "So he ought to get invited before me."

"He's not that much older than you though," Justin maintained. "AARP must have got some list both you guys were on and somehow or other got the idea you were fifty."

"Well we're not so we're not joining," Brian informed him. "I'm not going to join even when I do get to be fifty. You're only as old as you feel and I'm never going to feel fifty so I'm never going to join."

"We have some time between now and when you're fifty to discuss that," Justin decided. "If we wait till I'm fifty to get all those neat discounts, that will be a really long time."

"You're right, Baby," Brian agreed, "And after another sixteen years or so with you, I very well may feel like I'm fifty. So we can talk about this again in about fifteen years."

"At which time I guess I'll get the blame because you're fifty," Justin groused.

"Yeah, you will," Brian replied. "And it will be your fault too. I would never have made it to fifty if you hadn't come along."

"Gee whiz, Bri," Justin told him. "That's a really romantic thing to say. Aren't you glad now I made you put your arm around me?"

"Yeah, like I wasn't going to anyhow," Brian answered him. "But it's OK with me if you want to take the credit. It was a good idea."

And so the discussion came to another halt at this point as the guys explored some other opportunities. But it wasn't over.

"Bri," Justin asked later. "Don't you think I'm cute?"

"That's a dumb question, Baby," Brian responded.

"Well you did say I was cute back when I was young," Justin remembered. "Which kind of implied I wasn't cute any more."

"You're still cute, Kiddo," Brian assured him. "You're as young as you feel and you're as cute as you feel, and I'm pretty sure you still feel cute, and you should too. Yeah, you're still cute"

"Is that supposed to be romantic?" Justin asked the big guy.

"Baby, " Brian smiled at him. "Everything I say to you is supposed to be romantic."

"Even when you're accusing me of sending you an invitation to join AARP?" Justin wanted to know.

"Even then," Brian reassured him. "Even then."

"Gee, Brian," Justin told him. "I'm gonna remember that forever. And we're gonna have a lot of good times together before you're fifty. We're gonna have so much fun that the time will really fly by. You'll be fifty in no time."

"Even then," Brian told him.

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