Enough

"I just told Michael that I would help him out with something he wants to do, Bri," Justin was informing Brian, "And I'll need some help from you so I'm telling you right away." Justin had only then returned from a working session on Rage at Mikey's comic book emporium.

"I'm brave," Brian joked, "So that doesn't scare me in the least. (Brian may have been bending the truth a little when he said that). Should I get off this treadmill and sit down or is this something I can survive standing up?"

"Mikey wants to put on a surprise party for Debby for her fiftieth birthday," Justin told him, "And sarcasm will not get you anywhere, Sweetheart, and certainly not off the hook on this."

"And when is he planning to hold it, Sunshine - three years ago?" Brian laughed, "Poor Mikey is usually behind the times but this is a new record even for him."

"Honey, why do you always want to make things more difficult than they need to be?" Justin asked, "You know you'll help and you really do want to help. I know you want to help and you know I know. So why can't you just ask what we need you to do instead of making all this fuss?"

Brian was still laughing. "If you came in here with one of your usual announcements and I said that I would be glad do whatever you wanted me to do, without any complaining," Brian answered, "What would you do then?"

"Shit, Brian," Justin laughed too, "You're always right. If you did that I'd call Dr. Marshall and make an appointment for you right away. You're saving me a lot of worry by being yourself so consistently."

"And do I get any credit for being so thoughtful of you?" Brian asked.

"My undying gratitude," Justin told him, "But you always have that anyhow."

Brian stepped off the treadmill and threw both arms around Justin. "What do you want me to do?" he asked.

Justin seemed distracted. "You mean about the party, right?" Justin asked him back.

Brian squeezed Justin even tighter against himself. "You can be just as difficult, Baby, as you claim I am. What else would I be talking about?" he responded. "Yeah, about the party first. Then we can move on to whatever else is on your mind."

"We want to hold it at Gino's," Justin got back on track, "In the little private room he has downstairs. That room will hold forty people and we expect to have just about that many coming."

"You got a date picked?" Brian wanted to know, "We'll have to make sure the room's available."

"Of course we have a date picked, Brian," Justin told him, "And a few alternates just in case. We have some menu ideas too, but maybe you and I can stop up there some time and discuss them with Gino."

"Sounds good to me," Brian said, "See, I'm not so hard to deal with after all, am I?"

"You're never hard to deal with, Honey," Justin replied flashing his sunshine smile, "But there's no way I want you to suspect that, so keep it a secret." He put his arms around Brian's neck and kissed him.

It was about an hour or maybe a little bit more before the discussion came back to Debby's party.

There were some things Brian wanted to clear up. "Why did Mikey ask you to help him with the party? Why not Ben, or even me?" Brian asked, "And isn't Emmett the party planning expert?"

"Mikey trusts me. I am not about to hazard a guess about why not Emmett, but he told me Ben would be no more help than you would," Justin answered. "Remember the thirtieth birthday party you put on for Michael. And then there was your 'No Birthday Celebration' period which was how I got to know Ethan."

"See how well that worked out," Brian pointed out, "Now Ethan is our good friend."

"Yeah," Justin agreed wistfully, "It worked out well but not all that easily."

"Justin Baby," Brian wondered, "Vic and Debby have a sister. They don't get along and most of the time Debby won't even admit she has a sister. Are you guys going to invite her and her family? I know how you like to get people back together, and I know you're good at it, but if you and Mikey are thinking about doing that, I want to try to talk you both out of it."

"No," Justin replied, "Mikey said that wouldn't be a good idea. She won't be invited."

"And you guys do know that Debby is a few years past fifty?" Brian finished up his interrogation.

"Yeah," Justin told him, "But we decided fifty was enough."

"I hope you'll remember that when I get to, er, uh, thirty. Thirty sounds good to me." Brian concluded.

"Thirty's going to sound even better to you as the years go by," Justin laughed, "And to think that in my young lifetime, I can remember when you didn't think thirty sounded good at all."

The party discussion kept getting interrupted by other activities so it was maybe three hours later that the next word on the subject of the party was spoken. By this time the fireplace was lit and the boys were on the floor, cuddled together, backs against the couch watching fake flames flit here and there.

"The date you picked for Debby's party was OK with Gino so he's saving the room for you," Brian told his blond twink, "He even said he would decorate the room any way you wanted, unless you decided to decorate it yourself."

"No, it will be great to have Gino handle the decoration," Justin said, "Otherwise we would have to consult Emmett, and we don't want him to take over the whole business. Did you tell Gino we want to come up to discuss the menu with him?"

"Yeah," Brian informed him, "But he said if you were coming we should make it after Monday. That's when his next shipment from Italy comes in. He said he could call them and increase the order. Otherwise he might run out of something."

"Brian, that old story about my eating so much is getting tired," Justin smiled at Brian, "I don't eat any more than anybody else."

"Actually, Sweetheart, you do eat more than anybody else," Brian disagreed, "What you don't do is eat more than everybody else. But you should really quit when you've had enough."

Justin was laughing now and Brian wondered why. "Do you remember the morning after I first met you, Brian? I think your exact words to Mikey were 'You can never get enough.' All of a sudden have you changed your mind?"

"No, Sweetheart. I thought that then, I guess," Brian remembered, "And I guess I still think that - about some things - like you for instance."

"I'll go along with you on that then," Justin told him, reaching over to kiss him and run his hand through Brian's hair. "Our new rule can be 'Enough is never enough.'"

There followed yet another interruption in the discussion which neither Brian or Justin regretted, the party plans having moved along so well.

Finally, Brian said to Justin, "Honey, can we make one exception to our new rule? All good rules ought to have an exception."

"What kind of exception?" Justin was puzzled and wanted to know, "I think rules should be rules."

"Couldn't thirty be enough?" Brian asked.

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