Does Everybody Prefer Blonds?

The fireplace was lit and the guys were settling down in front of it - for another enjoyable evening, they hoped. But then it always was. Brian stared at the flickering flames in such a way that Justin suspected something was up. And it was.

“What’s going on with the Association of Blond Twinks these days?” Brian asked. “Haven’t heard anything about them for a while. Gone underground?”

“Well, I guess there’s not much happening at all with the Association of Beautiful Blond Twinks, Mr. Kinney,” Justin opined with a satisfied semi-smirk. “Not much at all. Yeah, things are pretty quiet. I guess we all have what we want – so there’s no need to rock the boat – not that we’re not still a potent force for good in the world.”

“The twinks all have what they want, eh?” Brian smiled knowingly at him. “Maybe not, Baby. Maybe some of them do – like you for instance – you sure wouldn’t have anything to complain about of course - but maybe not everybody. What about Alan?”

“OK, Kinney,” Justin rose to the bait. “What the hell is going on and who the hell is Alan? And where is all this stuff coming from? What do you think you know?”

“Well, you’ll never guess who I met on the street outside the office today, Sweetheart,” Brian told him and then answered the question himself. “Todd. You remember Todd – from Babylon? Nobody forgets Todd.”

“And I don’t forget anybody at all either, Bri,” Justin responded with absolute certainty. “How’s it going with Todd?”

“Pretty much the same,” Brian told him. “Todd still spends a lot of time at Babylon – doing whatever he does there. And guess what he told me.” But Brian seemed in a mood to answer his own riddles that evening so he did again. “He told me there’s a blond twink down there – named Alan – who seems to have set his cap for Oswaldo.”

“You’re kidding, Brian,” Justin showed genuine surprise. “No blond twink would be dumb enough to go after Oswaldo. He’s too mean. What could anybody see in him? I don’t believe it.”

“Well, Jason went after Brandon, Baby,” Brian recounted. “And Brandon was pretty mean himself back then. I remember that nobody thought Jason stood a chance and look what happened there - and then even before that ….”

“Don’t go there, Kinney,” Justin ordered. “I get your point all right – and I can see that you think this thing is pretty funny too….”

“History repeating itself, Sweetheart,” Brian laughed. “You took a lot of history at school. How many times does history have to repeat itself? I thought it was just twice.”

“Cut it out, Brian,” Justin objected. “If there’s an Alan around, I never heard of him – and I think I would have too – if there were any Alan around….”

“Maybe you’re so satisfied with stuff that you’re losing your touch, Baby,” Brian teased him. “But Todd says this Alan guy just moved here from St. Louis. Went to Babylon one night and took one look at Oswaldo…. Supposed to be taking Public Administration at Carnegie-Mellon. That’s a tough school. Alan must be pretty smart.”

“Not if he’s really chasing Oswaldo,” Justin reasoned. “Nobody in his right mind would see anything good in that guy.”

“That’s what people used to say about….” Brian interrupted – only to be quickly interrupted himself.

“Now just cut it out, Brian,” Justin insisted. “I saw a lot of good in you and I was right too – like I always am. There is a lot of good in you – not that you can’t still be a big pain every once in a while.”

“Like now, maybe?” Brian was still laughing. “Maybe right now? But you took me for better or worse so….”

“Yeah, I did,” Justin had to laugh back. “But that ‘for worse’ was only until I could reform you – which is obviously still a work in progress.”

“OK, Baby,” Brian gave in. “You win. I’ll get serious. But I bet you intend to do something about this situation. It’s a natural for a meddler like you and….”

Justin ignored the provocation. “I bet Hix can find out about this Alan guy,” he thought out loud. “Hix is out at Carnegie-Mellon and he knows everything that goes on out there.”

“But what’s going on in this case is really going on at Babylon - not at CMU,” Brian reminded him. “If you want to go to Babylon to check it out first-hand, I’ll go with you – not that I approve of your meddling. Just that I don’t want you going to Babylon by yourself.”

“You’re not worried that I might find somebody else out there, are you?” Justin took his turn at teasing. “Not to worry, Bri. I know I’m stuck with you for life – so you don’t have to worry.”

“I wasn’t worried at all,” Brian told him. “It was a tough job to convince you that I was the one-and-only guy for you – but I never gave up and I did a real good job and ….”

“Yep, you did,” Justin curled himself up closer to Brian. “You really did. I admit it. I tried my hardest to get away from you but you were so persistent…”

The conversation ceased at this point for a considerable time, probably so the guys could intellectually analyze the situation at Babylon – but maybe not. After a rather long interruption though, the discussion did resume – as it surely had to.

“Well, what are you gonna do about Alan, Baby?” Brian finally asked.

“You know I ought to do something, Bri – if the story’s true,” Justin replied. “I’ll get Hix to investigate out at CMU – and I’ll need to talk to Jason…and Malcolm maybe. If Alan’s just new here from St. Louis, he might not have any friends here yet. We don’t want him to do the wrong thing…. He could get really hurt.”

“Well I’m pretty sure Todd got the situation right, Baby,” Brian told him. “Yeah, I am sure.”

“And how could you be so sure, Kinney?” Justin acted suspicious. “What aren’t you telling me? I know you, Brian. And you know more than you already told me. I’m sure of it.”

“Yeah, I do,” Brian confessed – just as he had been planning to do. “I knew you’d be upset and I knew you’d want to do something about it – so maybe I called Oswaldo. I know him, you know, and I don’t think he’s really all that bad.”

“You called Oswaldo,” Justin was actually dumbfounded. “You actually called Oswaldo. Brian Kinney has officially become a meddler. Gee whiz, Bri, maybe there is still hope for you – just when I was about to give up.”

“Yeah,” Brian grinned. “That’ll be the day – when Justin Taylor gives up on anything. But I know you too, Baby - so I guess you’ll want to know what we talked about.”

“Only if you want to tell me, Honey,” Justin came back at him, “But I guess I would suggest that it might be better if you did want to.”

“Yeah, I think so too,” Brian laughingly agreed. “Oswaldo knows that Alan is stuck on him. I told Oswaldo to try to let the kid down as softly as possible and he said he would. He says the kid is actually kind of cute and likeable – not that he’s interested or anything. But then he asked about us….”

“He asked about us?” Justin echoed. “What about us? And what the hell did you tell him?”

“I guess maybe I told him that I felt the same way about you at first, Sweetheart,” Brian came clean, “But I also told him that nobody ever loved me the way you did and so…. Anyhow, Oswaldo said that nobody ever loved him at all….”

“Oh my God, Brian,” Justin got the whole picture. “There may be some good in Oswaldo after all – and if there is, Bri, he’s doomed. He won’t have a chance with Alan”

That’s what I thought too, Baby,” Brian kind of whispered, pulling the kid really close and caressing Justin’s cheek with the back of his hand. “And it’s a fate worse than death….”

All of which ended the discussion of Alan and Oswaldo – at least for that particular evening. Brian and Justin had their own fate worse than death to worry about. Meddling could wait.
 

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