One Too Many

It was about nine o’clock. Brian was sitting alone in front of the crackling fake fireplace flames when he heard the kid entering the loft. It was only a second later when Justin sidled in next to him on the floor. Justin had an odd grin on his face and Brian immediately suspected he knew why.

“You’re drunk,” he accused the twink.

“I’m glad you’re so glad to see me,” Justin replied. “I bet it was hard on you sitting here all by yourself with nobody to pick on.”

“Yeah, it was,” Brian smiled. “But thank goodness I’ve got you. I always know when I’m alone that you’ll be back soon and there will be something that I can pick on you about. And tonight it’s real easy. You’re drunk, or at least a little tipsy.”

“And just how do you know so much, Kinney?” Justin demanded. “Vodka doesn’t affect the breath. Where is your proof for your unjust accusation?”

“You’re right, of course,” Brian answered. “I guess I should always keep a breathalizer at the ready, but maybe we should just get up, if you can, and see if you can walk a straight line.”

“Now that is really unfair,” Justin came back. “You’re really mean, Brian. You know I don’t have the greatest balance in the world. I can’t do that straight line stuff when I’m sober.”

“Like you aren’t now,” Brian laughed. “I figure in your present condition, you could walk the straight line perfectly. Wanna try?”

“No,” Justin told him. “I’m just going to sit here and pout and sulk because you always have to be yelling at me. If you weren’t claiming I was drunk, you’d just make up something else to pick on me about.”

“Baby, I’m not picking on you and I’m not yelling at you either – at least not yet,” Brian pointed out. “But actually I might just be doing that pretty soon. Did you drive home? I know you took your car over to that stupid party.”

“Well I didn’t drive home, Sweetheart,” Justin responded with a trace of sarcasm. “But not cause I was drunk or tipsy or anything. I was going to lend my car to Malcolm for tomorrow anyhow, so I told him he might just as well drive me home, leave me off, and then take the car over to his place.”

“And I hope Malcolm was in better condition to drive than you were,” Brian presumed.

“Brian,” Justin said, “You know Malcolm can’t hold alcohol at all so he never drinks anything. He was sober as a judge, just like me.”

“Oh yeah, I did forget,” Brian agreed. “Good old Malcolm is the permanent designated driver. I’m glad you had the good sense to let him drive you home. Was it your idea or did he grab your keys?”

“OK,” Justin decided. “Just go on and yell at me like you want to. No point in my trying to defend myself when you’re in this kind of mood. And there is just a really slight chance that I might deserve it. So go ahead and have your fun.”

“I’m sitting here in front of my favorite fake fireplace with my arm around my very favorite twink,” Brian told him. “So I am already having all the fun I want. And I don’t think I need to yell at you tonight either, no matter how much that might add to the fun, but believe me, if you had driven home yourself, I might be yelling at you. I want you around for a really long time and I don’t want you taking any crazy chances like driving in your present condition.”

“Bri,” Justin cuddled closer to Brian. “I am admitting to absolutely nothing but, you know, sometimes it’s fun when you yell at me, especially when you insist you’re not yelling at me. I think it’s because I love you so much.”

“See how you’re thinking has been impaired by you over-indulgence, “ Brian laughed. “It’s not because you love me at all. It’s because I love you.”

“Brian Kinney,” Justin complained. “That’s really romantic, but you can’t fool me. You’re trying to take advantage of my present condition to win an argument. That is completely and absolutely unfair.”

“What present condition?” Brian inquired. “Exactly what present condition are you in that I’m trying to take advantage of?”

“Shut up, Brian,” Justin responded. And that must have seemed to be good advice for Brian because the conversation went into a prolonged pause at that point.

“Brian,” Justin resumed the conversation after a while. “I asked you to come with me to the party and you wouldn’t. If you had come, you could have watched me.”

“Baby,” Brian responded. “I don’t need to watch you, and I don’t need the company of a bunch of superannuated adolescents either. You needed to go to that farewell party and it was better that you went by yourself.”

“You have something against superannuated adolescents?” Justin grinned in reply. “I never suspected.”

“I don’t let on when it’s just the two of us,” Brian grinned back at him. “I wouldn’t want to hurt your feelings.”

“Well I guess you trust me to go places by myself,” Justin opined. “That’s something at least.”

“I knew Malcolm was going to be with you,” Brian cajoled.

“Cut it out, Bri,” Justin gave in. “You know I never drink too much. I’m sorry. I think maybe I had just one too many. I won’t do it again.”

“Baby,” Brian ran his hand through the kid’s hair. “Everything is OK. I’m not mad at you. I’m not yelling at you. I just love you and I want you to be safe. I don’t know what I would do if something happened to you.”

“You know, Brian,” Justin confided. “I’m really getting to like this conversation. I think we should just talk all night long. What do you think?”

“I think that you are just about to fall asleep with my arms around you and your head on my shoulder and sleep it off,” Brian told him. “And that just might be the absolutely best course of action.”

“Nope, you’re wrong, Bri,” Justin told him back, “I don’t need to sleep it off and I have no intention of sleeping it off. I like things just the way they are, so there. I intend to stay wide awake.”

“OK,” Brian laughed. “We’ll see. Maybe I’ll wake you up when you fall asleep just to tell you I was right and you were wrong. What do you think of that?”

Brian didn’t get an answer. Justin was asleep in his arms. Brian didn’t wake the kid. He liked things just the way they were.
 

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