Turning the Tables

Justin seemed a little nervous as the guys were positioning themselves in front of their fake fireplace. The conversation did not begin immediately and Brian sensed that Justin had something to say to him. He did.

"Do you love me Brian?" Justin asked.

"You know something, Baby," Brian smiled at him. "What you just said is in the form of a question, but I suspect somehow it is not a question at all. What I think it is actually, is a reminder that I do love you. Now why would you want to remind me that I love you? That is a real question but I'm going to answer it myself. You are about to tell me something I won't want to hear, and you want me to be remembering that I love you when I get the news. Now here's a question you can answer. Am I wrong?"

"You always suspect me of being devious, Brian," Justin groused. "I'm not always devious either, but you always act like I am."

"No, Kiddo," Brian laughed. "You are not always devious. You are sometimes a little devious however, and maybe often a little devious. Tell you what I'll do though. If you can go two months without being devious even once, I promise to quit suspecting you of being devious."

"You drive a hard bargain, Kinney," Justin laughed back at him. "Let me think about that for a while."

"OK," Brian agreed. "But while you're thinking, maybe you want to answer the question I asked: Am I wrong? Don't you have something you want to tell me?"

"Yeah, I do," Justin took the offensive, "And you might get mad about it too, but you have no right to get mad about it because I made a decision and it was my decision to make and if you had known about it, you would have made me do what you thought was best."

"OK, again," Brian told him. "Go ahead. Surprise me and I'll try not to get mad. Then maybe I'll surprise you to turn the tables just a little bit. You first."

"Brian," Justin began tentatively. "The last couple of Labor Days you surprised me with some great trips and we really had a good time. When Linz and Mel postponed their garden party to the Sunday after Labor Day again this year, I figured you were going to do it again. Not that you have to or that I was expecting it or anything. I just thought maybe…."

Brian squeezed the kid slightly which gave Justin a bit more confidence. "Maybe I was," Brian said, "But keep going."

"All right," Justin replied, seemingly resigned to telling all. "Well then, this art exhibit came up. It's in Chicago over Labor Day and I got invited to participate. But the artist has to be present. Professor Green wanted me to go but I said I wouldn't. I want to go where you want to go on Labor Day or stay home with you on Labor Day, or whatever, but I said 'No.' and it's too late for you to make me go because yesterday was the deadline for accepting. That's why I waited to tell you till now."

"But you are telling me now?" Brian replied. "Why? You could have kept it a secret and I would have never known."

"Linz knows," Justin told him. "Green called her and tried to get her to talk me into going - and she did try. But she promised not to tell you; then somehow Gus found out and he promised not to tell you either but somehow word got out and…."

"And just like always, everybody knows but Kinney," Brian was still laughing which Justin took as a good sign. "Everybody knows everything but, not to worry, nobody will ever tell Brian anything."

"Yeah, but Brian is smart," Justin admitted, "And he finds stuff out and then he's mad because I didn't tell him. So I thought I better tell him, and let him yell, and get it over with."

"What's the use of yelling now?" Brian seemed to give up. "You're an adult and you're entitled to make your own decisions, no matter how dumb they are. No point in yelling now."

"I can see BK has a new plan," Justin smiled. "Quit yelling and try the old guilt trip response. You can try it but I don't think it's gonna work any better than yelling."

"Probably not," Brian agreed. "But I have to try everything I can in my mad desire to make all your decisions for you."

"Cut it out, Bri," Justin demanded, and Brian did cut it out, ushering in a quiet period with the guys cuddled together. Justin was pleased with the outcome and Brian did not seem overly displeased.

It was a fairly long while before Justin restarted the conversation. "Hey, Brian," he wondered. "Didn't you say you maybe had a surprise for me too? I bet we're going somewhere for Labor Day."

"Yep," Brian replied. "How does Toronto sound to you? Big gay neighborhood, and they're filming some TV stuff up there too. We might get to see some filming."

"Can't see why anybody would want to watch some dumb TV program filming," Justin said. "But I think Toronto seems great. I always love going places you pick out. It's always a lot of fun."

"Yeah?" Brian replied.

"Absolutely," Justin enthused. "You are the best place-picker in the world."

"I'm glad you said that," Brian grinned. "Maybe we'll go to Toronto next year. This year it's Chicago."

"Chicago?" Justin stuttered. "You can't take me to Chicago. I didn't accept the invitation. You want to torture me by taking me to Chicago. That would be pretty mean, Brian."

"Well, I'm a mean man," Brian answered. "Don't you often say that? You know I am a mean man. But maybe not as mean as you think. Actually, you did accept the invitation."

"No, I didn't. I didn't sign the form, Bri," Justin insisted. "And how did you know about the offer anyhow? I think you're pretty devious yourself, Kinney. And which one of my fink so-called friends told you?"

"None of them," Brian countered. "Those fink friends of yours might pull that crap on me but never on you. I heard about it from Dean Armstrong. He didn't promise not to tell me and he's a friend of mine, you know. But even he might not have told me if he didn't think I already knew. He figured you had discussed it with me. He doesn't know how devious you can be. Don't worry, I didn't tell him."

"And you forged my signature on the acceptance?" Justin wondered.

"Nope, I would have though, but I had this meeting with your friends and I gave them hell for not telling me. Everybody tried copying your signature and I think it was Hunter who had the best one. Mel said it wasn't really forgery if there was no real intent to deceive."

"But there was a real attempt to deceive, Bri," Justin maintained, "And you did deceive me. You could all end up in jail."

"Nah," Brian told him. "Melanie can get us off."

"I think there are a lot of guys in jail who thought that too," Justin laughed. "I love you Bri. Now can I ask you one question though: Are you ever gonna let me make a mistake?"

"Not if I can help it," Brian countered. "I guess picking me was the last mistake you'll ever make."

"Mistake, huh?" Justin mused. "I'm gonna have to get more devious, I guess. If that was a mistake, I got to make some more."

Brian smiled but didn't respond. The discussion was over for the evening.

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