WHERE DO I STAND?

 

The fire was lit and the fake fireplace was aglow. So were the guys sitting there watching it. Brian had his right arm circling the kid whose head was leaning against Brian's shoulder in a scene of quiet domesticity.

"You'll be late getting home tomorrow night?" Brian started the discussion.

"Yeah, but I'll be here by 8 o'clock," Justin pointed out. "I can leave after the performance begins. I'll only be ushering from about 6:30 to 7:30 and then I can leave."

"You don't ever want to stay and see and hear the performance?" Brian wondered.

"Well most of the time not," Justin smiled at him, "But I always would rather be here with you than at the performance – so, when I usher, I come right home when everybody gets seated."

"You know I told you I'd come to the performances if you wanted to stay," Brian reminded him. "I'm not completely uncultured, you know. I even volunteered to help with the ushering but you said all the ushers were students."

"Yeah," Justin confirmed, "students. Brian, you don't want to get stuck at all those performances. I know the performers so it might be interesting for me but it wouldn't be for you. And I don't usher at all the performances either. Like just the ones for the people I know. They have to line up the ushers for their performances."

"So what's up tomorrow, Baby?" Brian wanted to know.

"This guy Phillip is gonna do a vocal recital," Justin told him. "He's good, Bri. He's a baritone and he's gonna do some show tunes and some light opera. I don't know him all that well but I decided to help out with the ushering anyhow. You don't mind, do you?"

"Course not," Brian assured him. "You have other things to do with your life besides sitting in front of this fireplace with me."

"But nothing that I'd rather do," Justin assured him back. "This is my favorite thing to do in the whole world. Everything else is extra."

"How come you're ushering for this Phillip guy if you don't know him very well?" Brian returned to the topic of the concert. "I bet you want to hear him sing."

"Actually, he's a friend of Jason's," Justin said. "They went to Allderdice High School together. So I met him through Jason."

"Yeah?" Brian replied. "Then I guess Jason and Brandon will be there?"

"I think Jason will be there all right," Justin told him. "But I don't think Brandon is coming. Jason doesn't want to bother Brandon like I don't want to bother you."

"But Jason isn't a student at the Institute so he can't usher for Phil," Brian grinned, "So good old Justin is doing it for him. Right?"

"Well maybe Jason is ushering too, Bri," Justin confessed. "Like sometimes they let non-students usher – in special circumstances…. Brian, Honey…, is there something you aren't telling me?"

"Yeah there is," it was Brian's turn to confess. "Brandon called me today and asked me if he could go to the concert with me. He figured that since you were ushering too, that I'd be there. And he wanted to be there with Jason and Jason tried to talk him out of it. Jason told him the thing was a sell-out."

"It is a sell-out, Bri," Justin said. "Phillip has a great reputation and just about the whole music student body signed up. It'll be crowded. So what did you tell Brandon?"

"I told him that he could absolutely go with me to the concert, Baby," Brian smiled at the surprised kid. "I told him you would figure something out."

"Why did you do that, Brian?" Justin asked him. "You weren't planning to go."

"And let Brandon think that he loved Jason more than I love you," Brian responded. "And that he wanted to be with Jason more than I wanted to be with you. No way, Jose. Brian Kinney is as romantic as anybody – more romantic than anybody. And maybe a little competitive too."

"And how do you figure I can get seats for all of us, Bri?" Justin protested, smiling nevertheless. "I guess you think I can do the impossible?"

"Yep," Brian told him. "That's exactly what I think – and I bet you can too."

"Well maybe I'll make a call later," Justin laughed. "I'm too comfortable where I am right now and I'm not about to do any moving. I'm staying right where I am."

"Brandon and me will stand if we have to," Brian told the kid. "It wouldn't be the first time I had standing room for a performance. We can stand if necessary – even at our advanced ages."

"Gee whiz, Brian Kinney," Justin remarked. "I guess you really don't have all that much confidence in me after all. Where do you and Brandon want to sit?"

"Anywhere you pick, Baby," Brian was laughing. "I know you won't commandeer anything less than the best."

"House seats, Bri," Justin told him. "We do things professionally at the Institute. We hold back house seats till the day of the performance. So like if the President decides he wants to come…."

"And what if the President does decide to come?" Brian was still laughing.

"Standing room, Bri," Justin was laughing too. "Bet the President knows about standing room too. He should have let us know sooner if he wanted to come. He won't be grabbing your seats. You and Brandon are important guests too"

"OK, Baby," Brian grinned knowingly. "I do not doubt your influence for a minute. Now about Jason getting to usher. Exceptional circumstances eh? I think I'll just ask all the ushers tomorrow if they're students….."

"Well maybe that was just a little bit of a white lie, maybe, Brian," Justin admitted. "But I was just trying to keep you from being inconvenienced. You're way too important a person to be ushering at the Institute. I bet you tell me some tiny little white lies sometimes – for my own good of course."

"And if I say that I do," Brian laughed, "I'll be subjected to a third degree worthy of the Marquis de Sade – so I decline to respond to that question one way or the other. But I bet you could get me an ushering job over there if you wanted to."

"Well maybe I could," Justin replied through a laugh of his own, "But I'm not going to. You will not be doing any ushering at the Institute, and that's my final word on the subject."

"So I guess I know where I stand with you, Twink," Brian was still laughing.

"Nope," Justin disagreed quickly. "You do not stand with me at all, Mr. Brian Kinney. You sit. That's what you do. I am the usher around here and a damn good one too. You sit – and you sit just where I tell you."

"OK, Baby." Brian squeezed the bossy twink a little closer to himself. "And I really like the seat you got for me here tonight. It's the best seat in the house."

"I could argue with you, Kinney." Justin ran his hand through Brian's hair. "Mine might be just a little better. But then I have this rule never to argue with you…."

"That's a very good rule," was what Brian would have said if he had been able to say anything at that point– but he wasn't – and he wasn't complaining either. He had this rule about never arguing with Justin.
 

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