A Tough Nut To Crack

The holiday season was in the air as the guys settled themselves down in front of their fake fireplace – and nobody in the whole world had more Christmas spirit than the occupants of the loft – nobody – not Ebenezer Scrooge – not the Grinch – nobody at all.

“OK, Taylor,” Brian opened the discussion. “You are enough to kill off anybody’s Christmas spirit all right. It’s bad enough that we’re having Abelard and that tribe from Columbus coming in for two days next week so the greatest Christmas shopper in the world can satisfy all of their Christmas list needs. I think they’re chartering a bus this year. Probably a hundred of them coming. But that’s not enough Christmas spirit for you. So now you expect me to go to the ballet too. The Nutcracker - no less. Sugar plum fairies and snow queens….”

“Yep,” Justin replied with a grin and without any sign of remorse. “And it seems to me that you’re making it sound like something you ought to like – and you never even mentioned those good looking guys in tights - but you’re really just trying to distract me from the issue at hand. Won’t work, Brian. Yeah, I do want you to go. And not only that, I want you pull some strings too. You owe it to Cynthia. Her friend, Cheryl, is coming in all the way from Texas for the week. Like her first time ever in Pittsburgh too. Cynthia hasn’t seen her for several years but she remembers that Cheryl once danced in Nutcracker at the New York World’s Fair in the really old days so Cynthia thinks it would be nice to take her to our big Pittsburgh Nutcracker.”

“And just who decided it would be nice to take me to our big Pittsburgh Nutcracker, Baby?” Brian wanted to know. “Sounds like your idea to me. Since I never danced it at any World’s Fair – or anywhere else either – and don’t be getting any of your weird ideas - I don’t see why I need to go.”

”Well you could do it as - like a Christmas present for me, Kinney,” Justin suggested. “You’re supposed to be so Christmassy these days. You could think of it as my Christmas present if you wanted to.”

“I guess I could at that,” Brian thought out loud. “Might be a pretty good idea too. It would save me worrying about getting you anything else.”

“Yeah, it might do that, Honey,” Justin laughed. “If you wanted to be brave enough to take that chance…. But I think you’re too smart for anything like that, Bri – as well as being really nice – and really loving the Christmas season – and always wanting to take care of me and make me happy ….”

“Geez, Baby,” Brian presumed. “You are really laying it on thick. There must be a lot more to this than what I already know….”

“Well you’re pretty important around town, Mr. Kinney,” Justin flattered, “And I think you know Terry Orr over at the Ballet. I think it would be nice if you got us – like the very best seats in the house – and maybe we could also take Cheryl backstage to meet him and some of the dancers – like - maybe after the show….”

“Or maybe before the show would be even better, Mr. Taylor,” Brian conjectured. “Then if somebody in the cast wasn’t feeling well or something, they could just get Cheryl into costume – since she’s already done the show before ….You know what, Sweetheart, maybe Cheryl and Terry know each other already. He was dancing in New York with American Ballet Theater just about the same time Cheryl was doing Nutcracker at the Fair. Maybe they’ve even danced together already ….”

“OK, Kinney,” Justin told him. “I guess you just have to be Brian Kinney – even at Christmas time. Have your fun if you need to – but I bet you’ll get a kick out of doing all this nice stuff – and you’ll be glad I thought it all up for you – even if you’ll never admit it. Cynthia will be real pleased and I bet her friend, Cheryl, will never forget it either.”

“Nope,” Brian agreed. “She won’t. Not if she still remembers dancing Nutcracker at the World’s Fair. Maybe we could even arrange a walk-on for her during the second act variations….”

”OK, Kinney,” Justin demanded. “How come you know about the second act variations at all? Maybe I need some explanations – but I guess they can wait. I don’t think we actually need to get Cheryl on stage though. That might be too much. Cynthia said Cheryl was having some problems with her leg. We don’t need to go overboard or anything.”

”Baby, we’re already overboard,” Brian laughed. “You’ve already dumped us way overboard – but I guess you just have to be Justin Taylor – and that’s his specialty – thinking up weird stuff. Well OK then, no stage appearance for Cheryl – and yeah, I’ll fix up the other stuff – just the way you want it …. I know Terry and Marianna and Steve over at the Ballet and I can do it all right. But I do think I want to mention though that you were criticizing my lack of Christmas spirit just a little while ago - and now maybe you’re criticizing my Christmas enthusiasm. It’s pretty hard to satisfy you, Sweetheart. . You’re a hard nut to crack, JT.”

“I guess maybe I am, Bri,” Justin admitted. “I’m sorry. It’s just lucky for us that you’re always so easy to get along with – and thanks, Brian. I’d love you even if you weren’t the greatest guy in the world – but I’m glad you are anyway.”

“What can I say, Babe?” Brian allowed. “I guess I should deny all that stuff but it’s probably true - so what can I say? Justin Taylor is always right.”

“You know what, Bri,” Justin confided to Brian as he cuddled himself up closer to him. “I bet you’d be really good at humility too – if humility was ever appropriate ….”

Brian didn’t answer and quiet fell over the loft for a lengthy period – as was not uncommon during their discussions in front of the fake fireplace. Both of the guys seemed quite satisfied with that situation.

“Maybe Cheryl would like to help the OSU guys with their Christmas shopping while she’s here, Kiddo,” Brian suggested, in eventually reopening the conversation. “Whattaya think?”

“Well she’d be welcome if she wanted to help, Brian,” Justin responded. “But I think we have things pretty well organized already. It won’t be all that big of a problem. I’ve met with Malcolm and Hunter – and I’ve talked to Mikey – and Jason is gonna help this year too ….”

“And Brian Kinney has not been involved in this planning at all,” Brian groused. “I guess he’s not really a very big part of the plan – or maybe no part of the plan at all – as usual.”

“Cut it out, Brian,” Justin grinned at him. “Brian Kinney will be the general supervisor of the whole operation – just like he always is. The guy who makes it all work. We couldn’t do it without him. He’s absolutely essential to the project.”

“Yeah, he is,” Brian grinned back at him. “Somebody has to carry all the junk that the shopping experts pick out …..”

“Poor Brian,” Justin sympathized unsympathetically. “We’ll get Brandon to help with the carrying…. And you know exactly how important you are to everything we do, Kinney – but you always have to complain. You’re tough, Bri. You, Brian Kinney, are a really tough nut to crack….”

”Well I think maybe I used to be, Baby,” Brian reminisced. “I was - like - the toughest most uncrackable tough nut to crack in the whole world – yeah I was - but then I walked out of Babylon one night and there – across the street – under the lamp post – was the world’s absolutely most efficient nutcracker – and I don’t think I’ve been quite so tough ever since then …..”

“What can I say, Sweetheart?” Justin responded by moving himself up onto Brian’s lap. “I guess I should deny all that - but you’re - like - always right so ….”

“So – just like me - you’re able to successfully suppress your natural humility, Baby,” Brian wrapped both of his arms around the kid. “And that should be easy for you since you know full well you get everything you want around here ….”

“Well if I do get everything I want around here, Kinney,” Justin reasoned. “It’s only because you want the same things that I want – even if you like to pretend you don’t …..”

“But I don’t always pretend I don’t want what you want, do I?” Brian started to say as he laced his fingers through the Twink’s hair. “Not always. Sometimes I ….”

“Well maybe not always,” Justin reconsidered, caressing Brian’s face with the back of his hand. “Sometimes you …..”

But Justin didn’t finish his statement either – and the unfinished sentence signaled that a kind of agreement between the guys had finally been reached – and that agreement brought an end to the entire conversation.
 

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