No Soap

The fireplace blazed away as the guys settled themselves down in front of it. Justin seemed eager to get a conversation started. Brian sensed this - and hoped – with not a lot of real hope - for the best…

“You’ll never guess what, Brian,” the kid told him even before Brian got his arm around the twink’s shoulders – then quickly continued without giving Brian any chance to guess at all, “Remember those guys that I met in New York - outside the theater - when I was trying to return the play tickets - the time you stood me up …?”

“I remember them, Baby,” Brian interrupted, “And I remember all my faults too so you don’t need to go over each of them in painful detail. Robert and his boy-friend – the impoverished actors who are now, I bet, in need of help to pay their rent because they can’t get work and you gave them our address and …”

“Ha,” Justin interrupted him back, “Like I don’t know winners when I see them. Well, you are absolutely wrong, Kinney. I got an e-mail from them today and Ricky – that’s Robert’s boy-friend’s name by the way – Ricky got a job.”

“Geez, Baby,” Brian anticipated. “Things are crazy at Kinnetics right now. I don’t know if I can get away to New York to see this kid I don’t even know in some 100 seat theater a little off off-Broadway – probably doing some awful new play I won’t like or understand or even worse, some old classic – re-imagined, modernized and ruined by some innovative third rate director …. But I guess if you want to go, I’ll just have to …”

“Nope, Kinney,” Justin informed him. “No trip to New York necessary. Not right away anyhow. Ricky got a job on a soap opera that tapes in New York – it’s the one that has one of your commercials too – so you’ll actually be able to get us in to see him working when we can get up there – but Ricky’s on a three month option - so no big hurry. And I bet he ends up with a three-year contract too. He’s gonna play a gay teen-ager – like maybe 17 years old - who’s looking for somebody to love …”

“Guess he found the right guy to ask for advice then, Sweetheart,” Brian grinned at him.

“Just cut it out, Kinney,” Justin retorted. “If you’re talking about me, well I was not just looking for someone to love at all. I was looking for someone to love who needed me – to like - save him from a dull and boring life. I guess I was looking for you specifically – someone to love all right - but not just anyone to love - somebody very special.”

“Dull and boring life, eh? … Too bad you weren’t looking for somebody who could understand what you’re talking about, Baby,” Brian laughed. “Then I would have been completely off the hook.”

“Like you maybe want to be off the hook, Brian Kinney,” Justin challenged him. “Which you know you don’t … And anyhow, I bet you could understand what I’m talking about if you’d just listen and quit interrupting.”

“OK, Taylor,” Brian conceded, “I guess I could try that… Please go on …”

“Well – as I was saying,” Justin took the offer. “I think the soap opera world is really ready for a gay romance – and so I think Ricky will be on there for a long time – and probably end up a star.”

“And you expect me to be watching this soap opera for a long time?” Brian cringed. “I don’t think so…”

“Interrupting again, Kinney,” Justin reminded him. “And now you’re refusing to do what you weren’t ever asked to do too… I do not expect you to watch it – and I don’t expect to watch it either. We can just find out which days Ricky is gonna be on – you can find that stuff out in advance – and then tape that day’s episode and fast forward through the tape …”

“Like - fast forward through my commercial too?” Brian pointed out. “Good idea, JT – good idea all right.”

“We already use that product, Kinney,” Justin informed him. “So it’s not exactly treason to fast forward through the commercial – but if you want to stop each time and watch the commercial, we could do that …

“OK, Sweetheart - forget the damn commercial,” Brian told him - and then introduced a pause in the discussion during which both of them forgot everything they had been talking about – in favor of complete agreement on several other points.

“You know, Babe,” Brian reinstated the discussion after the long intermission. “That business about Rick was not as bad as I expected. “They don’t need money – and they don’t need advice …”

“Wrong, Brian,” Justin told him. “They do need advice – or at least they asked for advice … Seems Robert has had a couple of call-backs for a cable series that will be done in Toronto. He thinks he has a good chance of getting offered the role – and it’s a pretty good one too – some nudity which I don’t like very much – but a good role in a series that has a very good chance of running several years. He’d have to be in Toronto for maybe six months out of every year – and Ricky will be in New York … They’re worried about being separated for that long. They really are in love, Brian – like us … And they want to stay together forever – like us …”

“So what are you planning to advise them, Mr. Wise Old Owl?” Brian wondered. “Maybe you shouldn’t advise them at all. You like - only met them that one time … If they need advice, maybe they should get it from somebody who knows them better …”

“Well they asked me, Bri,” Justin replied, “And they are great people – so I want to help. I guess – if it were me – I wouldn’t go to Toronto. There’s more to life than just a career …”

“You know what, Baby,” Brian decided. “If it were us, I’d force you to go to Toronto. I would make you go. I really would.”

“Brian,” Justin snuggled up to him, “I sometimes claim that you force me to do stuff – but I don’t think you ever really have …”

“Well there was only the one time when I really wanted to force you to do anything, Baby,” Brian remembered. “And that was when your dad wouldn’t pay your tuition at the Institute – and you were refusing help from me…”

“That was dumb of me, Brian,” Justin admitted. “Plain dumb on my part … I’m sorry. I just didn’t want to be dependent on you. I loved you then, Bri – more than anything else in the world – like I do now - but I didn’t want to be dependent on you … I wanted …”

“That’s what I’m talking about, Honey,” Brian told him. “You remember that night? … After you finally agreed to accept my help – I knew how you felt - so I tried to prove to you that you were an equal partner and not just dependent on me …”

“Yeah, I remember it all, Brian,” Justin answered. “Real well too – for some reason or other … But I’m really dependent on you now and …”

”And I’m dependent on you too, Baby,” Brian rubbed his hand through Justin’s hair – “And neither of us minds being dependent on each other.”

“You’re right, Bri,” Justin seemed confused. “I didn’t want to be dependent on you then - but I kind of like it now …Is that crazy?”

“Nope - the difference is simple, Honey,” Brian told him. “We are now both very successful in our careers. We don’t need to be dependent on each other. We want to be. When we did the tuition thing, you were thinking that you had to be dependent on me – that maybe you couldn’t make it on your own - and that’s the difference …”

“So if Robert doesn’t go …” Justin conjectured.

“If he doesn’t go - and he doesn’t get another good offer pretty quick,” Brian took over. “He may begin to blame Ricky eventually – and feel that he’s dependent on him too if his career doesn’t take off – and especially if Rick is a big success on the soap opera - and that would be more dangerous to their relationship than a little physical separation … They both need to succeed on their own if …”

“So you think he should go …” Justin surmised. “I’m gonna tell him just what you said … They’re both smart kids, Bri. They’ll do the right thing … Thanks, Brian. I know I can always depend on you. …Now then – getting back to us - as I think a little more about that night when I decided to let you lend me the tuition money …”

“Forget it, Baby,” Brian advised him.

“But it was you who brought up the subject in the first place, Kinney,” Justin protested. “You asked me if I remembered …”

“Forget it, Sweetheart,” Brian repeated his advice.

“Well maybe I will,” Justin grinned at him while rubbing his head against Brian’s cheek, “And maybe I wont,” refusing to be forced into anything. “We’ll just have to wait and see…”

And Brian grinned back at him, silently happy that he had been so decisively saved from a dull and boring life. Robert and Ricky should be so lucky.

 

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