Hot Air on Cool Air
 

Brian was grinning as he seated himself on the floor of the loft next to his favorite blond twink. The fireplace was blazing away and the residents were feeling the heat – even with the heating element in the fireplace definitely turned to the ‘off’ position.

“Well, Sweetheart,” he began, “seems to me you ought to be able to get out your mini tool kit, go down to the basement and get the damn air-conditioner working again. What the hell are you good for?”

“If you have to ask what I’m good for, Kinney,” Justin told him, “I must not be good for very much – but I don’t think you do have to ask at all. You’re just trying to be funny so I won’t get mad or even mention that Kinnetics represents Tri-State Heating and Cooling - and their advertising always claims that they can fix any problem in 24 hours or less – and we’re like - in our thirtieth hour without air-conditioning already and it’s not fixed yet that I can notice.”

“Larry says they need a part, Taylor,” Brian pointed out. “And that part should come tomorrow. You can’t fix the problem without the part….”

”Not even with my mini tool kit, Bri?” Justin grinned. “Larry could have borrowed my mini tool kit if he wanted to … Maybe your ad campaign should say ‘within 24 hours if we don’t need a new part’ instead of just ‘within 24 hours.’ In the interests of accuracy, that is.”

“You stick to your business, Twink, and I’ll stick to mine,” Brian counseled him with a smile. “You wouldn’t want me sticking my nose into your art stuff.”

“My art stuff doesn’t make you sit around in 90 degree heat either, Mr. Kinney,” Justin countered. “And come to think of it, you do sometimes stick your nose in my art stuff – not that you’re like – an expert – or anything either.”

“Well maybe I’m no art expert, Baby,” Brian defended himself. “But I know what I like.”

“Yep, you do that, Brian Kinney,” Justin had to admit. “You do know what you like.’

The conversation paused at this point on that point of agreement - and nothing during the hiatus detracted in the least from that agreement either. And it was a while before the discussion resumed too.

“Maybe we should turn the fireplace off, Baby,” Brian suggested as the conversation revived. “I know there’s no heat there but psychologically it might be better …”

“Personally, Bri,” Justin decided. “I think I’m above being influenced by that psychological crap. I know there’s no heat in that fireplace so turning it off will bring me no relief from the lack of cool air. But if you think it will help you cope, go ahead …”

“Forget it, JT,” Brian told him. “I’m just as mature as you are so if it won’t help you psychologically it won’t help me either – so we just might as well leave it on. Unless you want to go out to eat – or a movie – or something – in air conditioned comfort …”

“I don’t think so, Bri,” Justin replied. “But I’ll go if you want to – if you’re uncomfortable or anything …”

“So you think I don’t see a trap when it’s being laid, Twink,” Brian laughed. “I’m supposed to say I’m uncomfortable and you’ll come back that here I’m sitting next to you in front of our wonderful magic fireplace and I’m uncomfortable … Uh uh. I’m not uncomfortable at all but even if I were uncomfortable I wouldn’t admit it either. Not being a fool or anything.”

“Well it’s supposed to be even hotter tomorrow, Bri, and if this air-conditioner is not fixed by then we have two offers,” Justin informed him. “We’re invited to Mikey’s air-conditioned digs to play Monopoly – or we could go over to Brandon’s for a snappy game of Scrabble with him and Jason. Their air-conditioning works too.”

“If our air-conditioning is not back on by tomorrow, Sweetheart,” Brian responded, “I will go down to the basement myself and explain those options to the air-conditioning system and it should immediately resurrect just out of sympathy – but I’ll take your mini tool kit with me and make the necessary part to fix it myself if I have to. Geez, Kiddo, talk about being between a rock and a hard place.”

And this discourse somehow or other led to another halt in the discussion during which – for some reason or other – the guys did not notice the revival of a very low-pitched hum in the loft. It was a while before the conversation started up again – and with a surprise.

“Hey, Brian,” the kid exclaimed to break the silence. “I think I feel a breeze. The air-conditioning must be working again.”

“Yeah,” Brian agreed. “The part must have come early and Larry knew how bad I wanted the thing fixed so he must have come over and …”

“Yep,” Justin grinned. “Poor Larry probably had to abandon his own plans for tonight to come over and rescue the supreme advertising nabob from his over-heated existence – not that I’m criticizing anybody’s over-heated existence, Bri …”

“Well at least we won’t actually need to change Tri-State’s slogan, Baby,” Brian laughed. “32 hours is close enough to 24 that nobody will notice – and I won’t have to listen to you complaining about how hot you are either – not that I’m saying you’re not hot …”

The silence that followed however was not typical of the usual pauses in their discussions. The guys seemed to just be staring into the flickering flames and enjoying the restoration of comfortable temperatures to the loft. Till Justin finally spoke.

“I guess if the air-conditioning is OK, Bri,” he mentioned tentatively. “We can go back to the original plans for tomorrow - which we had to put on hold …”

“What original plans, Sweetheart?” Brian did not remember – suspiciously.

“Remember a couple of weeks ago when Debbie found her grand-mother’s Canasta cards, Brian,” Justin went on carefully. “And she said she wondered how you played Canasta …”

”And you told her you knew how to play Canasta – like you know every damn thing you shouldn’t know, Mr. Taylor,” Brian began to remember. “And you told her you’d show her how …”

”And we picked tomorrow and Debbie and Carl and Vic are coming over, Honey,” Justin continued. “And Mikey and Ben – and probably Jason and Brandon cause they like games … And you knew all about it, Brian, and you said it was OK …”

“It was two weeks away when I said it was OK, Baby,” Brian pointed out. “And now it’s tomorrow and that’s not nearly as OK …”

“Well we can’t get out of it, Bri,” Justin told him. “I guess I should call them all tonight and tell them the air-conditioner is fixed and the plans are back on …”

“I think you should wait till tomorrow, Sweetheart,” Brian advised. “Sometimes when things get fixed, they break again real quick. I’m sure it would be better for you to wait till tomorrow …”

“Well I don’t think Tri-State has anything in its slogan about stuff breaking again right away, Bri,” Justin said. “But if you think I should wait, I’ll wait. What do you think we should do while we’re waiting?”

Brian was always resourceful at times like these - and he did come up with some ideas about what they should do – to the extent that Justin was pretty sure the evening’s discussion was over – but it wasn’t – or maybe it was.

In the middle of all their quiet reflection – or whatever else was going on - Brian whispered in the kid’s ear: “Hey, Honey, where do you keep your mini tool kit anyhow?”

Justin could have warned Brian that there was in fact no satisfactory solution to their Canasta dilemma – but he was busy – so he decided to let Brian figure that out for himself. There were times when Justin just didn’t feel like talking.
 

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