Elementary, My Dear Justin

The fireplace was lit and the guys were seated on the floor of the loft facing the flickering flames. It was a scene often duplicated in the loft. It afforded the guys a chance to talk – and they took ample advantage….

“You said you were having Jason and Malcolm over to lunch today,” Brian began the evening’s conversation. “Did everything go OK? You know I told you that you could have them for dinner if you wanted to and then I could be here too – but I guess you didn’t want me.”

“Exactly wrong, Kinney,” Justin laughed at him. “It was them I didn’t want here tonight – not when I could have you all to myself. And anyhow….”

“And anyhow you guys were working on some super secret project that I wasn’t supposed to know about,” Brian posited. “Probably some secret business of the Association of Blond Twinks.”

“Beautiful Blond Twinks,” Justin corrected Brian’s omission. “But nope, that wasn’t what we were doing at all. We were helping Malcolm do some research for a play he’s going to direct and we had to have computer access - so we thought it would be better to eat here than go to some restaurant. And yeah, everything went OK. We got what we wanted to do done pretty quick too.”

There was a short pause then – and it seemed like Justin was thinking about what he wanted to say – or maybe how he wanted to say it - and then he said….

“Hey, Brian, you know how we like to watch old movies together…? You wouldn’t be mad if I watched an old movie without you, would you?”

“Like you want me to get out of here so you can watch an old movie by yourself?” Brian wondered. “Now that is odd – even for you.”

“Of course not, Brian,” Justin laughed. “I’d never want to watch an old movie without you – not if I could watch it with you. You should know that.”

“Well I thought I knew that,” Brian agreed. “And then you asked that off-the-wall question – and you’re not one for asking aimless questions – even if they do seem pretty aimless sometimes - so I was wondering….”

“We got through what we had to do pretty fast after lunch, Bri,” Justin explained. “And then Malcolm said there was a good movie on TCM and he wanted to watch it – so I guess we did….”

“Something tells me not to ask this question,” Brian laughed. “But I’m gonna bite anyhow - against my better judgment though. So what movie did you guys watch?”

“It was a Sherlock Holmes movie with some guy named Basil something-or-other,” Justin recalled. “It was real good. And that Sherlock Holmes is a pretty smart guy. If I committed a crime, I’d want to stay away from Sherlock Holmes….”

”And the name of this movie was…?” Brian interrupted Justin’s rambling.

“’The Hound of the Baskervilles’” Justin told him. “It’s about this family….”

”I know what it’s about, Baby,” Brian cut him off. “I’ve seen it lots of times. There are several versions but I think I like the Basil Rathbone - see how I never forget a name - version the best of them all – so you saw the best of the Hounds. There are a lot of those old Sherlock Holmes movies with Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, and I think you saw the best of them too. But surely you knew about Sherlock Holmes before….?”

“Of course I knew about Sherlock Holmes, Brian,” Justin assured him. “I’m not illiterate. I even read a couple of those stories – Arthur Conan Doyle - but I think I liked the movie better than the stories.”

“Well I guess I’m a little surprised. I wouldn’t have ever picked that out for us to watch,” Brian continued. “There are too many better movies to watch when we get the chance. So I guess I’m glad you saw this one without me….”

“Then I don’t suppose you’d want to watch some of the others….?” Justin replied, perhaps as a suggestion.

“Are you telling me that you want to watch more of that Sherlock Holmes series – with me?” Brian seemed surprised. “You know if you really want to….”

“Well we all liked this one today,” Justin interrupted him. “And Jason said that he’s gonna order them all from Netflix and when him and Brandon have their old movie night….”

“Brandon and Jason have old movie nights?” Brian was taken aback. “Like we do?”

“Yeah, I guess they do,” Justin confirmed. “But not exactly like us. Brandon has never seen them either - so when they watch an old movie, they’re both watching it for the first time.”

“So how do they pick what pictures to watch?” Brian asked. “There are zillions of old movies out there and a lot of them are pretty awful. They’d have to….”

“I think Brandon’s mother helps them pick, Brian,” Justin explained. “And I guess I better tell you this too cause you might find out and decide to be mad about it - not that I was like trying to keep it a secret or anything - sometimes I tell Jason what movies we watch and then they watch them too. They loved the Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire movies and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers too.”

“That makes you an accessory before the fact, Baby,” Brian laughed. “Beware of Sherlock. But I don’t care if you tell them what movies we watch. I don’t suppose there’s any big secret there – and I guess copycatting is not really a crime either. But you know what - since I’m not all that big on watching the rest of those old Sherlock Holmes movies, maybe you could go over to Jason’s and watch with them when Netflix delivers the goods….”

“I don’t think that would work at all, Brian,” Justin smirked knowingly. “I don’t think they’d want company for their old movie night any more than we would – and I wouldn’t want to set any such precedent….”

“Nope,” Brian quickly agreed. “We don’t want any precedents set – not like that anyhow. So maybe you and Malcolm can go over to Jason’s in the afternoon sometime - before he sends the pictures back to Netflix - and you both can watch them there. Maybe Jason would want to see them twice anyhow.”

“Well I guess we could do that – if you don’t want to watch them – I guess we could,” Justin semi-pouted.

“Well look at it this way, Baby,” Brian grinned at him. “If Jason and Brandon watch those movies over there and we watch them over here,” Brian asked him, “what about Malcolm? I guess him and Hunter could watch them together but Malcolm could like - maybe - feel left out ….”

“OK Kinney,” Justin apparently gave in. “You win. You always figure out some way to get things to be just the way you want them. Seems like you always get your way. I don’t know how you do it but you always do.”

“Elementary, my dear Justin,” Brian laughed. “Quite elementary. A combination of clear thinking and hard logic.”

“Oh yeah, Kinney,” Justin was seeing the humor in the situation and replied in kind. “Well I bet my life would have been a lot more interesting and exciting if it had been Sherlock Holmes who came out of Babylon that night instead of clear-thinking, logical Brian Kinney.”

“You know what, Baby,” Brian suggested. “You might have been very lucky it was Brian Kinney and not Sherlock Holmes who came out of Babylon on that fateful night. Sherlock was not a particularly nice guy – like I am - and he didn’t have infinite patience either. I think he just might have decided to feed you to that hound of the Baskervilles before he bothered to solve the mystery for Sir Henry. I expect that would have been interesting and exciting for you.”

“Well – when I think more about it, Sweetheart - maybe I am lucky it was Brian Kinney that night,” Justin considered, while cuddling himself closer to the smiling guy next to him. “Sherlock Holmes played the violin and I’m not all that good with guys who play the violin….”

“And you know what else, Sweetheart,” Brian told him idly as he ran his fingers through the kid’s hair. “I’ve been doing some thinking too – maybe I should take a few violin lessons myself….”

Justin’s only response was an enigmatic smile. He figured he could convince Brian that he did not need any violin lessons at all – and even get to see the Sherlock Holmes movies too if he wanted to. Yeah, he could. It would be elementary. And it wouldn’t involve all that much clear thinking or hard logic either.
 

Return to Fireside Chats