Emily

The guys had just settled themselves onto the floor in front of their fireplace. It had been a while since the last time - and they were glad to resume the routine.

“Well I guess you’re glad that Emily is safely back in Syracuse, Babe,” Brian proposed with a sly grin on his face.

“Well of course I’m glad she’s safely back, Kinney,” Justin replied with a sly grin of his own, “as opposed to her being unsafely back in Syracuse, that is – if that’s what you mean ,,,,,”

“What I mean is that you can stop trying to make Jason look way more competent than he is, Sweetheart,” Brian explained. “I thought the pressure was beginning to get to you – a little bit anyway….”

“I haven’t the vaguest notion of what you’re talking about,” Justin lied. “You get some crazy ideas sometimes, Brian….”

“Which you wouldn’t understand at all, JT,” Brian laughed, “since you’ve never been known to get a crazy idea yourself. Like - never….”

“Cut it out right now, BK,” Justin told him. “Emily is pretty nice, I think – and I think you think so too. And she is pretty nice. It’s just that Brandon is her only child. She’s OK with the ‘gay’ thing but she wants Brandon to have like – a competent partner – who will ….”

“Tough luck then, Taylor,” Brian laughed. “He’s got Jason - for better or worse – for good and bad – and worse – and worst…..”

“You just never give Jason any credit, Bri,” Justin protested. “There’s lots of things he can do well – and he’s a big help to Brandon – and they really love each other - and he keeps Brandon happy too – and he doesn’t have to keep you happy at all so…..”

“Guess not, Baby,” Brian was still laughing. “Neither does anybody else in this whole wide world, Nobody has to keep Brian Kinney happy, I guess – that’s why I’m hardly ever happy ….”

“Cut it out, Brian,” Justin laughed. “The only sympathy you’re likely to get is from yourself. I make you damn happy like – all the time – all the damn time - and I could make you even happier right now – if I wanted to….”

“Bet you couldn’t,” Brian challenged the kid – as was to be expected.

And there was a pause at this point in the important discussion – while Justin – as was also to be expected - attempted to prove his point.

The rather long pause did eventually come to a conclusion though - and Justin broke the protracted silence. “Well?” he asked with just a trace of snideness.

“OK, Kiddo,” Brian – however - resumed the previous conversation. “I’ll admit Emily is a neat mother – but she is a mother – and she’s protective of Brandon too. And I figured out like – the second day she was here that she had a few doubts about Jason. You – on the other hand - seemed to know right off …..”

“Yeah,” Justin confessed, “but it wasn’t all like – intuition though. I might not have figured it out till the second day too – except remember when Brandon and Jason went up to Syracuse so Jason could meet Emily. Well when Jason got back, he told me he was scared that Emily didn’t like him and ….”

“And you knew right away what the problem was, Baby,” Brian laughed. “Knowing Jason as well as anybody….”

“And Debbie got to know Emily last week in New York,” Justin went on – ignoring Brian’s attempted provocation, “and Deb warned me that Emily had certain reservations ….”

“So the greatest problem-solver of all time decided to make Jason look like – reasonably competent at least – and possessed of the wisdom of Solomon at best…,” Brian presumed.

“Well I wasn’t exactly thinking biblically, Brian,” Justin smiled at him, “But I thought I’d try to help Jason look good. That would make Jason happy – and Emily too. It's not that Jason and Brandon are incompetent, Bri. They just wanted everything to go well and they were real nervous…..”

“So you made all the stuff you did to make her week here so neat, Sunshine,” Brian pointed out. “You made it look like it was mostly Jason’s doing. That was Justin Taylor meddling at its absolute best – and I know a lot about his meddling techniques too….”

“Maybe a lot, Kinney,” Justin grinned at him. “But not all – not by a long shot….”

“Well it worked this time, Baby,” Brian admitted. “I think you managed to snow Emily – at least enough that Jason is now safely installed as one of the family…..”

“I hope so, Bri,” Justin told him. “Jason was worried – and I think he feels better about his mother-in-law relationship now. And it’s better for Emily too. Brandon and Jas are a genuine couple – like – forever. They’re really in love, Brian. As much as we are – or maybe even more….”

“No chance, Tay,” Brian interrupted with a laugh. “No way you’d tolerate that. If you thought that for even one second, you’d try to cool them off – cause there’s no way even you could make us love each other more than we already do….”

“Darn it, Brian Kinney,” Justin protested. “You’re always trying to tell me what I’m able to do and what I’m not able to do. You’re kind of argumentative tonight.”

“Thought you liked challenges, Sweetheart,” Brian grinned. “No offense meant….”

“No offense taken either, Bri,” Justin told him. “On the other hand that challenge maybe …..”

“Yeah,” Brian replied, “I guess I’d like to see you try that one out for size….”

“Always encouraging me to do my best,” Justin laughed. “I appreciate that….”

The next while was spent in Justin’s trying to do his best – with much appreciated encouragement from Brian. But strangely enough the discussion of the evening was not yet over and later it revived.

“I don’t think either Brandon or Jason realized what was really going on, Bri,” Justin recalled. “They wanted everything to go well with Emily’s visit – and they were both so nervous and all. Lucky we could do what we did. So it’s all over now….”

“Yes and no, Honey,” Brian told him. “The main reason that I brought up the subject tonight is that those guys want to take us out to dinner tomorrow at that new upscale restaurant downtown – to thank you for what you did for them ….”

“Gee whiz, Bri,” Justin seemed surprised. “We didn’t do all that much – and they weren’t even supposed to know. Well at least Emily didn’t figure it out…..”

“Probably not, JT,” Brian tentatively agreed, “but on the other hand, she told them that the next time they came up to Syracuse, maybe they should bring us along – so….”

“Damn it, Brian,” Justin moaned. “I thought I was a big success and now it looks like I’m a failure….”

“You are no failure, Justin Taylor,” Brian assured him pulling the kid just a little closer. “Not now – not ever. Do I need to convince you of that?”

Justin did not reply so Brian thought he should take a stab at convincing the twink. And that seemed like the right thing to do. Right or wrong though, nobody complained.
 

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