A Winter's Tale

“OK, Brian,” Justin wondered just as the guys parked themselves on the floor of the loft facing their blazing fake fireplace, “What the hell is this big surprise that I might not like?”

“Well it’s just that your neat plan that almost worked,” Brian told him, “Didn’t.”

“Now what kind of plan did I have that almost worked – but didn’t?” Justin laughed. “My plans usually work out just the way I want them to. I’m like – a careful planner.”

“Well I was watching the winter Olympics a while back and I remembered that I haven’t been skating or skiing this whole winter,” Brian told him, “And that has to be your doing. You and your ‘safety first’ mentality. Like - you’re always so worried that I’ll have fun….”

”Wait a minute Kinney,” Justin interrupted with a reminder of his own. “It was you who decided not to go to the big advertising meeting in Vail this year. Probably cause they didn’t ask you to speak about something or other. I had no part in that decision. So….”

“Actually they did ask me to speak on something or other, Twink,” Brian revealed with a grin, “But things were pretty busy here then. I didn’t tell you because you’d have made a big fuss about my not going and….”

“You were supposed to speak to that group again this year and you never told me/” Justin was dumbstruck – figuratively if not literally, “And you decided not to tell me because I would try to reason with you and get you to do the sensible thing….”

“I guess so, Sweetheart,” Brian smilingly admitted, “But I knew you had plans to have Dave and Wendell out there and a whole other cast of characters too – all dedicated to making sure I didn’t have any excitement….”

“Well maybe I would have tried to ensure your safety all right – but you would have got to go skiing – and maybe skating too – and you decided not to go – and that was not my fault,” Justin argued – smiling back at him.

“You got to go skating this winter, Kiddo,” Brian ignored Justin’s argument and continued with his own. “You and Jason went to PPG Place a couple of times when I was too busy to go. Gus got to go skating too. Melanie and Linz took him and there were a couple of school outings. I’m the only one who didn’t get to go skating at all – and that was your idea too….”

“Well maybe you should have tried out for the Olympics. Bri,” Justin suggested. “Then you’d have got to go skating and even I wouldn’t be able to fight the International Olympics Committee….”

“Ha,” Brian interrupted, “You’d have made sure I didn’t qualify for the Olympics even if I had tried out. You always want things your way.”

“So what’s this surprise anyhow?” Justin decided to change the subject by returning to the original theme. “As if I couldn’t make a good guess now….”

“We are going skating tomorrow night at PPG Place, Baby,” Brian told him, “And that’s that. And we are going skiing at Bear Rocks next week-end. The winter’s nearly gone but not quite so I decided it’s not too late….”

“Gus will be disappointed,” Justin replied. “He’d want to go with us I bet.”

“And he’s going with us, Honey,” Brian informed him, “And you’ll be glad to know that Melanie and Linz are going too….”

“So they can watch Gus while I watch you?” Justin laughed. “Sounds like you’re defeating your own purpose.”

”Not really, Babe,” Brian replied. “Emmett and Ted are also going and they’re both worse skiers than I am and Emmett is crazier than I am too – so you’ll be spending part of your time picking them up and I might get a run in while you’re not looking….”

“Guess I’ll have to line up some other guys to help with the shepherding, Kinney,” Justin presumed. “Can’t take a chance on you getting in any run while I’m not looking. So I’ll need a complete list of who’s going so I can line up the ‘ski and skate’ guard. It will be too much for me to handle by myself….”

“That’s what I’m hoping,” Brian grinned, “But I’ll give you the list all right and you can do your best….”

“Are Dave and Wendell invited, Bri?” Justin asked. “If they aren’t we need to invite them.”

“Well they know about the dates, Sweetheart,” Brian conceded, “And they’re gonna try to get in – but the Lake Placid trip is still on for the next week-end so….”

“What Lake Placid trip, Brian?” Justin seemed genuinely non-plussed. “What about Lake Placid?”

“Another plan of yours that didn’t work out the way you thought it would, Kiddo,” Brian informed him. “There’s this resort that Dave owns up at Lake Placid and a bunch of us will be going up there the next week-end for some winter sports activity. I think everybody else knows about it – but it was supposed to be a surprise for me – for some reason or other….”

“Well Dave has a lot of security up at his place so I wasn’t so worried about you there, Mr. Kinney,” Justin told him, “But I was afraid that you’d decide to get some practice in before we went to Lake Placid and so….”

“You didn’t want me to get any practice in before Lake Placid, I guess,” Brian grouched, “So I wouldn’t be at my peak form up there….”

”I didn’t want you to get hurt, BK,” Justin moved closer to the big guy. “So that we wouldn’t be able to go to Lake Placid and Gus would be disappointed – but mostly I didn’t want you to get hurt, Brian. You know why….”

And Brian did seem to know exactly why. There was a pause in the discussion at this point while he let Justin know that he did know exactly why – and Brian was successful too. But the discussion was not over yet.

“So how did you find out about Lake Placid, Brian?” Justin eventually restarted the conversation. “Nobody was supposed to tell you.”

”Well I think I got Gus a little confused, Baby,” Brian explained. “I decided to do this skating and skiing bit during the Olympics and I mentioned to Gus that I was gonna take him skating. He thought I meant Lake Placid so he thought I knew all about it. I hadn’t planned to surprise you till then – but I decided if you were gonna surprise me about Lake Placid, I’d surprise you about my plans. Two can play at that game – and my plan worked where yours didn’t….”

“Well maybe both plans worked about the same, Brian,” Justin laughed. “Gus is not dumb and he’s seen you at the rink and on the slopes. He like – warned me. He was afraid you’d get hurt too - and we’d have to miss Lake Placid – and you know how he feels about seeing Uncle Dave and Uncle Wendell….”

“So he double-crossed me and told you the whole story,” Brian laughed back. “You know what, Taylor. Maybe we should both just give up the trickery and surprise business and just tell each other everything….”

”Gee whiz, Brian,” Justin dropped his head onto Brian’s chest. “Don’t we already do that?”

“Yeah, Baby,” Brian squeezed the kid affectionately. “I guess we do at that.”
 

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