Yankee Doodle

"Fourth of July is coming up, Brian," Justin reminded his dream guy as they sat in front of the flitting flames of their fake fireplace. "Mel and Linz are planning another big picnic at Point State Park. The whole gang will be there and they want you to hold your son for the fireworks. OK with you?"

"Since you probably already told them we'd be there and I'd do that, why does it matter if it's OK with me?" Brian laughed, "But there's no place I'd rather celebrate the Fourth - as long as you're there too."

"I wouldn't miss it for the world," Justin assured him, "It will be just like last year only better. The Pittsburgh Symphony will be playing and accompanying the fireworks so Ethan and Tom will be eating with us before the concert."

"It's not going to be exactly like last year, Baby," Brian told him, "I'm not going to let Mikey lead me astray like he did last time. You can count on me to be clean and sober all night."

It was Justin's turn to laugh now. "I remember last year all right but I'm not so sure it was Mikey who did the leading," he responded. "Just avoid temptation and bad company and everything will be fine."

"How can I do that?" Brian laughed back at him. "You already said you were going to be there."

"Very funny," Justin responded with a light poke to Brian's ribs.

"Now you can tell me what you haven't told me," Brian demanded.

"What are you talking about, Bri?" Justin answered.

"What else?" Brian repeated, "I know how you operate. There's more and you know there's more so you may as well just tell me while I'm in a good mood. You may not get another chance."

"Actually there is a little more to tell, Honey. Actually there's some good news and some bad news," Justin admitted. "The good news is that we'll have Malcolm and Hunter with us this year. Malcolm is going to summer session so he'll be in town. The bad news is that Abelard wanted to be here too but he can't get away from Ohio State."

"Well," Brian concluded, "That is good news and bad news, but I think maybe you've got them mixed up. That's not as bad as it might be though, provided there isn't anything else."

"There is a little bit more, Bri," Justin continued, "You know how they have activities at the Park all day on the Fourth, especially for kids?"

"Yeah. Thank God we're not kids," Brian responded.

"But Gus is a kid, Brian," Justin countered, "You know that Malcolm has switched to dramatics. Well he and some others are putting on a patriotic play for kids several times during the afternoon. And we want Gus to see the 3:30 performance so we'll have to get there a little earlier than we did last year. Malcolm is going to be Yankee Doodle."

"Baby," Brian pleaded, "Please tell me you're not in this little play - and you better be able to tell me that I'm not in it."

"Geez, Brian," Justin replied, "Don't get paranoid. Of course we're not in it. What would make you even ask that?"

"Never mind," Brian smiled at him. "Do we know anybody else in the cast? I'm almost afraid to ask."

"Well I'm not exactly sure but I think Hunter may have a small part," Justin told him, "And there's a chance that Mikey might play Uncle Sam."

"I thought Mikey had definitely given up the theater," Brian said.

"I guess once the theater gets in your blood, it stays there," Justin laughed. "Anyhow it would just be a cameo role. Malcolm asked Mike and he promised to think about it, but Malcolm also told Debbie at the diner and she thinks Mikey ought to do it. She said she'd talk him into doing it, I think."

"Sounds like Mikey will be Uncle Sam, all right," Brian warned Justin, "Baby, if you ever introduce Malcolm to my mother, I'll personally kill you."

"Your mother is not the stage mother type at all, Brian," Justin advised him, "But I promise not to introduce Malcolm to your mother, if that would bother you."

"Yeah," Brian decided, "You would never do anything to bother me."

"Of course I wouldn't," Justin agreed with him, "It hurts my feelings that you might even think so."

"Well, can I ask you if that's all there is to tell without hurting your feelings, Kiddo?" Brian asked.

"I never keep any secrets from you, Sweetheart," Justin responded, "That's all I know about it."

"OK," Brian summarized, "So we're taking Gus to this patriotic play, then we're going to have a big picnic dinner with Yankee Doodle and Uncle Sam, Hunter in whatever costume he's got on, and Ethan in his orchestra tux. And I'm supposed to stay clean and sober so that I can hold Gus for the fireworks."

"That's it, Bri," Justin agreed, "Sounds easy to me."

"Just about easy enough to have me go looking for Troy and Bart and those guys that me and Mikey met up with last year and got into trouble with," Brian decided.

"Yeah," Justin warned him, "But this year it won't be you and Mikey, Bri. This year it will be you and Uncle Sam. You'll be ruining the reputation of our national symbol if you try that stuff this year. and it will be way harder for us to hide you from the cops too."

"Why do I think you arranged all this to keep me on the straight and narrow?" Brian wondered out loud. "Now if we want to go looking for a little fun we'll be unpatriotic."

"Because I wouldn't have needed to, Bri," Justin defended himself, "You're going to have a lot of fun with us. You're going to enjoy holding you son for the fireworks. Anyhow you said you were going to be clean and sober and I always trust you, even if you don't always trust me."

"Don't get paranoid, Baby," Brian counseled him, "I do always trust you - to do the right thing. It's just that the right thing is not always what I want."

Justin's clever retort to that never got spoken because the phone rang. "You answer it, Brian," Justin said, "If it's Malcolm, tell him I'm not here, OK? He's been bugging me about some things."

So Brian answered the ringing. "Hey Malcolm," he said, "He's not here right now."

"Yeah," Brian said next, "He told me about the Fourth. He's real enthusiastic. I'm sure you can count on Justin. He'll be glad to help you out. Just put him down to do that. I'll tell him as soon as he gets back but I'm positive he'll be glad to do it for you. The show must go on. And tell Abe we're really sorry he can't make it."

"Brian Kinney," Justin glared as Brian put the phone down, "You did that out of spite. You're evil. What have you signed me up for? I think I'm mad at you."

"I thought you trusted me. What do you think I did?" Brian laughed, "It's not like Malcolm needs somebody to play the rear end of a horse, but I'll bet you could do that pretty well. All he wanted was for you to check out the scenery he's having done in the art department. You're in the art department. I thought you'd be glad to do that. It doesn't seem like a big thing to me."

"I'm sorry, Bri," Justin told him, "Maybe I am a little paranoid."

Brian decided not to respond so they sat in silence until Justin broke the spell. "You know what's the best thing about us, Bri?" he asked.

Brian again opted not to respond so Justin answered his own question. "The way we help each other and protect each other and take care of each other," he told Brian.

Brian just smiled.

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