The Hunter

Justin was bent over the desk in the loft, shuffling several papers in front of him. Brian came up behind him and threw his arms around the twink, but Brian was disappointed first by the lack of response, and then by the response itself when it came.

"Brian," Justin said, "I'm busy, and if you can't be of help, at least don't bother me while I'm working."

"You don't usually mind my bothering you when you're working," Brian came back at him, sounding a bit disappointed to Justin.

"I'm sorry, Honey," Justin turned to Brian, "You're the most important thing in the world to me, you know that, but Christmas is coming, and presents need to be bought, and I have these lists, and you don't want to help, so I have to do it all by myself, and time's running out."

"You lead a hard life," Brian sympathized with a tinge of maybe fake sarcasm, "I'm so hard to get along with."

"Not that hard to get along with," Justin smiled at him, "Just unreasonable some of the time, which makes you all the more lovable. But these gifts are going to be signed 'From Brian and Justin,' and there aren't going to be any gifts if I can't work on the list."

"Why don't you just sign them 'From Justin who did all the work and Brian who kept him from getting the work done'?" Brian grouched, "Then the world will know how miserable and useless I am."

"Don't try to lay a guilt trip on me, Kinney," Justin ordered. "Pull up a chair next to me and put your arm around me and speak when you're spoken to, or whenever you have something useful to say. Then when we get all these lists finished, we'll do whatever you want to do. But not before. Get it."

"Where did you learn to be no ornery?" Brian asked as he did what he was told, deciding it was not such a bad deal after all.

"From the master," Justin laughed as he moved over and kissed Brian, "who is a great teacher."

"Well you learned pretty well," Brian admitted, "You're a good student. What do you want me to do?"

"I have a lot of the people done but I still have some I'm not sure about." Justin told him, "That's what we have to work on. Let's start with an easy one. Hunter. Do you have any ideas about what we can give Hunter?"

"What does he want?" Brian wondered.

"That's not a good way to phrase the question, Honey. I know what he wants all right, but he's not going to get what he wants," Justin laughed, "He wants you, Brian, and that's the one thing he is absolutely not going to get. And don't make some smart remark, either. You're supposed to be helping."

"We could get him a sweater," Brian suggested, "A heavy sweater to wear while he's skating. Maybe something in a light blue. I think that would be a good color for Hunter. Show off his eyes."

"Brian," Justin growled, "Don't look at me. What color are my eyes?"

"Different colors," Brian told him after just a moment's hesitation, "Depending on the mood you're in."

"Well what color are they when I am getting mad?" Justin asked, "Because that's the color they are likely to be right now. You have never suggested a color for me. What color would show off my eyes?"

"Right now I think probably a fiery green," Brian teased, "Because I get a feeling that you're a little bit jealous."

"I am not jealous," Justin replied, "I am aggravated. Unfortunately, getting aggravated with you makes me love you all the more, and I think you know that, and you're trying to bait me, and you are baiting me, and it's working, and I am getting mad at you."

"You must get the master to teach you about run-on sentences some time," Brian told Justin, "I'm sure that would be useful."

"Dammit, Brian," Justin raised his voice ever so subtly, "I quit. Everybody who hasn't had a present already selected is going to get a sweater, and you can go and get them, and you can decide what color flatters their eyes. And I wanted to get Mikey an artifact from Africa. That's what he would really like and now, thanks to you, he'll get a sweater."

"Instead of a duck from Quack, I suppose," Brian surmised, "But that's his loss and poor Mikey will never know what he missed."

"All right, Sweetheart," Justin said to him, repaying Brian's earlier maybe fake sarcasm, "Now that you have destroyed any possibility of my getting nice presents for our friends, what have you in mind to do?"

Brian had a lot of suggestions. Justin decided they didn't sound like such a bad deal after all, and Brian was pleased that he had pulled the little twink away from his compulsive Christmas gift selection process. Actually, Brian complimented himself on how easy it had been - the old master at his best.

It was pretty late that evening when the exhausted pair settled themselves in front of the fireplace. They had their quiet time before Justin said to Brian. "Honey, I'm off tomorrow and you're working, so if you don't mind, maybe I'll take another look at that Christmas present list tomorrow. That won't be too late."

"OK with me," Brian agreed, "Sorry I can't be here to help."

"Oh Sweetheart," Justin said, "You have already helped. Hunter will get a sweater just like you suggested, but probably in a pale green or gray, if you don't mind."

"You don't want to flatter his eyes, I see," Brian commented, "Hunter is no competition for you, Baby, so you don't need to worry about that. You're in a class by yourself. And maybe Mikey could still get a bird from Tweet, too That would be nice."

"I'm not worried about Hunter, Dearie. Just the opposite." Justin pointed out, "The light blue you suggested would clash with Hunter's eyes. It's green or gray that will complement them. You have no idea what color Hunter's eyes are. I don't want to run-on, but I do also want to say that you have never bought me anything which was not a perfect color for me, so subconsciously you know all about me even if your he-man consciousness doesn't know what it knows."

"Well then," Brian asked in wonderment, "Why did you let me get to you like you did? Why did you quit working on your list? Why didn't you just yell at me and make me help you finish?"

"I love you Brian," Justin stated, "And I figured if you would go to those lengths to get me away from my list, I could always go back to it tomorrow."

"Well then just who seduced who?" Brian sputtered.

"Hard to say, Sweetheart," Justin responded, "Sometimes the hunter becomes the hunted. It's the law of the jungle."

"You are an absolutely lovable rat, Justin Taylor," Brian told him. "You beat me at my own game, I think."

"I don't think so, Honey, but I did learn from the master," Justin allowed.

"Sometimes the student gets better than the teacher," Brian mused.

"I guess sometimes, but isn't that actually a compliment to the teacher," Justin answered. Then he put his arms around Brian's neck and kissed him. "I love you, Brian Kinney," he said, "Merry Christmas."

Brian couldn't figure out if he had won or lost, but by then he didn't care. He was the happiest he had ever been in his life and that suited Brian fine.

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