Brian spent the next two weeks learning the ropes of being mayor.  He was a quick study so things went relatively smoothly.  With Cynthia's help he was able to control who got access to his office.  He quickly identified the people who had their own agendas and were best kept out.  He also found those who supported causes that he thought were important.  He tried to give them help and encouragement wherever he could.

 

The biggest problem he had was all the paperwork he had to get through.  He relied a lot on Geoffrey to sort through the mountain of proposals and reports and requests and doctrines that came across his desk.  There was no way he could read everything that came in for him to peruse.  He began to understand why public officials were often seemingly in the dark about new innovations or ideas.  Unless they had a staff that could sort out the worthwhile topics, they never heard or saw many of the ideas that came to them from various sources.

 

Cynthia began to be more and more capable of making decisions about information that was e-mailed or snail-mailed to him.  He trusted her judgment, and as she gained some experience she became as good at filtering what he needed to look at as Geoffrey was.

 

One of the things she brought to his attention was a request from a group of mothers who had very young children and had come up with a proposal to start co-op nursery schools.  They had set up one for themselves that had worked extremely well.  Now they wanted to franchise the idea and act as supervisors for any new nursery schools that followed their plan.  They had laid out parameters for selecting a site, choosing the staff and stocking the facility.

 

When Cynthia had brought the proposal to Brian he had been very excited.  It fit perfectly with the education and daycare theme that had been a cornerstone of his campaign.  Geoffrey had not been in favor of this idea when Brian ran it by him.  He felt the mayor should stay out of such things, let them go through the usual channels.  He also felt it was too risky dealing with inexperienced people.  With all the problems of child abuse and molestation turning children's welfare over to such a group would be asking for trouble, as far as Geoffrey was concerned.

 

"They're mothers, for Christ sake!" Brian responded.

 

"Fine, you're the mayor.  Do what you want, but don't say I didn't warn you."

"And if I followed your model nothing would ever change."

Geoffrey sat stony faced in front of him.  Brian immediately regretted his words.

 

"Look, Geoffrey, this fits exactly what I want to do for the city – affordable, dependable, competent daycare.  I want to help them.  I have to give it a shot."

"Suit yourself."

 

Brian wanted to smack the self-righteous bastard, but he knew he needed him, and for the most part he did respect Geoffrey's opinions.  The man was usually right.  But sometimes Brian felt the need to do things for himself, take some initiative that hadn't been filtered through Geoffrey's myopic view of the world.

 

"This is one time I'm going to have to follow my own path, Geoffrey, so let's just agree to disagree."

 

Geoffrey had nodded knowing that Brian was the mayor and the decision was his to make.

 

One of the things that Brian hated about being mayor was the constant stream of visits by dignitaries and VIP's who came to Pittsburgh and ended up with a photo op at City Hall with the mayor.  Brian occasionally wondered if maybe it was Geoffrey who organized these things with a view to making his life miserable.  What Brian did like about these visits was that every now and then he got to meet someone that he was truly interested in.

 

One such occasion was when Bruce Springsteen came to Pittsburgh for two concerts.  He performed the first night and was brought to City Hall the afternoon of the next day for a presentation ceremony.  He supported some local charities and their representatives were there to present 'The Boss' with tokens of their appreciation.

 

As the official representative of the city Brian was required to attend.  This was one instance that he didn't mind doing so at all.  He had long been a fan of the singer from New Jersey.  He owned all his albums and he had even modeled himself after Springsteen when he and Mikey had their band for a while.

 

When Brian had seen the name on his itinerary for the next day, he could hardly believe his eyes.  He couldn't wait to tell Justin as soon as he got home. 

 

When Brian entered the loft that evening he had shouted Justin's name only to find the boy was still out.  That wasn't the way it was supposed to be.

 

By the time Justin, tired from a long shift at the diner, arrived at the loft over an hour later Brian's good mood had evaporated. 

 

"Hey," Justin said as he came in.

 

"Hey," Brian responded with little enthusiasm.

"You're home in good time tonight."

"Fat fucking lot of good that did me!"

"What?"

 

"You heard me."

"Yeah, I did.  But what the fuck are you talking about?"

"I had some good news that I wanted to share with you, but you weren't here."

"Well, I'm sorry, but I guess I missed your telepathic messages telling me that I needed to rush right home to hear your news."  Justin made his voice as sarcastic as he could.  This pissy attitude was uncalled for and he was sick of being treated like dirt.

 

"Fuck you!" Brian responded.

 

"So what is this wonderful news that you could hardly wait a fucking minute to tell me?"

"Fucking forget it!"

 

Brian got up from the couch, grabbed his jacket and left.  Justin stood stunned by the loft door.  He couldn't believe that Brian had just walked out on him.  What the fuck had they been fighting about?

 

Brian took the stairs two at a time and arrived at the street in no time flat.  He stopped on the doorstep wondering where the fuck he thought he was going to go.  He wasn't supposed to be out wandering around on his own.  Look where that had got him the last time he tried it.  He sure as fuck wasn't going back upstairs to the sarcastic little twat he had left there.  He couldn't even take the Corvette because he had given the keys to Justin. 

 

As he stood undecided about what he wanted to do, Brian saw a taxi pull up across the street and drop someone off.  Brian ran over and gave the driver an address to take him to.  He slumped into the back seat regretting, a little bit, the first fight he and Justin had had in quite a while.

 

Brian paid the taxi driver and got out of the car.  He went up the steps wondering if he was doing the right thing.  A knock on the door brought him face to face with Ben.

 

"Hey," Brian said.

 

"Brian?" Ben said obviously questioning what had brought Brian to their apartment.

 

"That's Mayor Kinney to you," Brian tried to joke, but it didn't sound very funny.

 

"Brian!" Michael said enthusiastically from inside the apartment.

 

Ben stepped back so that Brian could enter.  Michael was seated at the dinner table.  It seemed that they were mostly finished eating.

 

"Hey, Mikey," Brian said.

 

"What are you doing here?  Have you eaten?"

Like all the Novotnys food was always high on the list of priorities.

 

"I'm fine," Brian replied.  He sat down in an empty chair at the table.  "I came to see if you could take a couple of hours off from the store tomorrow afternoon."

 

"Is there an early underwear party that you want to drag him to?" Ben asked.

 

Brian ignored that comment.  "How would you like to meet Bruce Springsteen?"

 

"What kind of fucked up joke is this?" Michael asked.

 

"It's no joke, Mikey.  He's coming to City Hall to receive an award from some charitable institutions and of course, I have to shake his hand.  I wondered if you wanted to come too.  But … if you're busy or you think I'm kidding it's no skin off my nose."

Brian made a move as if tostand up like he was ready to leave.

 

"Brian," Michael whined.  "Don't fuck with me.  Are you serious?  Bruce Springsteen!"

 

Brian grinned at him and nodded.

 

"Oh… My… God…!"

 

"So do you want to come?"

"Of course I do.  Let me call Uncle Vic and see if he'll cover for me at the store.  I'll call him right now."

 

Michael went over to the phone and Brian began to squirm under Ben's continued stare.

 

"I promise to return him in pristine condition right after the ceremony," Brian said sarcastically.

 

"I'm trying to figure out why you are here inviting Michael when I would have thought you would be taking Justin," Ben mused out loud.  "Umm, let me see … a fight perhaps?"

Brian scowled and Ben knew he had hit the nail on the head.  "You can't keep stringing Michael along like this."

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Come on, Brian.  Every time you have problems with Justin you come running back to Michael and make him feel special and important.  Then as soon as you fix things with Justin, you forget that Michael exists."

 

Brian looked stunned and a little sheepish, but quickly the old mask slipped into place.  "You're full of shit," Brian said too softly.  "Mikey and I have been friends for a long time and Springsteen was one of our heroes.  That's why I'm inviting him."

"If you say so," Ben said slowly and Brian knew he didn't believe a word of it.

 

"Uncle Vic will look after the store," Michael said with a big grin as he came back to the table.  He wants me to get him Bruce's autograph if I get the chance."

 

"Try not to gush too much," Brian admonished.  "I have to maintain a certain sense of decorum.  I am the mayor."

Ben snorted.  "And loving every minute of it."

"You're such a fraud," Michael said to Brian.  "You're as excited as I am about meeting Springsteen."

"True," Brian admitted with a little grin.

 

Ben watched the two of them.  They really did have so much common history.  It was hard for anyone else, him included, to break into that realm.

 

"So be at City Hall a little before two," Brian said standing and pulling his coat back on.

"I'll be there."

"Check in at the front desk.  I'll put your name on the guest list."

Michael nodded happily.

 

"Oh, I almost forgot.  Can you call me a cab?"

 

"Sure, but where's the 'Vette?"

"Just call."

Michael went to the phone and Brian again found himself under the intense scrutiny of the good professor.  Brian decided he could learn to hate Ben if he didn't stop doing that.

 

"About five minutes," Michael said coming back to the table.

 

They all sat down again and looked uncomfortably at each other.

 

"So where's your car?" Ben asked.

 

"Justin has it."

"Why?" Michael wanted to know.

 

"I have a car and driver.  It comes with being mayor so I gave the 'Vette to Justin."

 

"Gave?"  Michael looked shocked.

 

"Well, not exactly gave.  He's using it for transportation to school and to run errands."

"You trust him with it?"

"Of course I do, Mikey, or I wouldn't have given it to him in the first place."

Michael scowled and there was an awkward silence.  Brian realized how much he did trust Justin.  The boy could have anything he wanted.  Brian knew it would be safe with him.  Michael thought about how Brian had never loaned him the Corvette and resented Justin a little more.  Ben watched the emotions play out on the faces of the other two and shook his head in resignation.  No matter how much Michael loved him, and he knew that he did, he would never hold the same place in his life that Brian commanded.

 

A honk from the street heralded the arrival of the taxi and mercifully the end of Ben's scrutiny.  Brian got up, gave Michael a quick kiss and left without further ado.  Inside the taxi Brian hesitated about where to have the taxi take him and then gave the driver the address of the loft.

 

                                                              -----

 

Brian waited in his office.  They would call him down to meet Bruce Springsteen in a few minutes.  Michael should be there anytime now.  He thought back to the events of last night.  What the fuck had he and Justin fought about?  And worse still, what were they still fighting about?

 

When Brian had arrived back at the loft Justin was engrossed in some school work and never even let on that he knew Brian had returned.  Brian read some reports and worked a bit on the computer.  He composed a few words to say at the presentation to Bruce Springsteen.

 

He kept glancing over at Justin, but the boy never let on that he noticed, if in fact he did.  They never said anything to each other all night.  Brian finally went to bed sometime before midnight and Justin was still sketching.

 

When they had awoken this morning each was clinging to his side of the bed fearful of touching the other.  Justin stayed in bed while Brian got ready to leave.  Justin was awake.  Brian always knew when he was awake, but he pretended sleep and Brian let him.  Somehow that seemed easier than trying to settle what had happened and then explain to him why Michael was coming to meet Bruce Springsteen instead of him.  So Justin still didn't know what was happening at City Hall this day.  Brian assumed he had gone off to PIFA without any inkling.

 

Cynthia called him over the intercom and he stepped out of his office to find an excited Michael armed with his camera and autograph book waiting for him.  They made their way down to the council chambers where the presentation would be made.

 

The councilors and Brian took their seats, and Michael went to the visitors' gallery.  Shortly the Springsteen entourage arrived.  Hands were quickly shaken and seats found for all who accompanied the 'Boss'.  Several people from various charities spoke about contributions made by Mr. Springsteen.  Geoffrey handed Brian the award plaque and the key to the city.  Brian moved to the microphone.

 

"Mr. Springsteen, may I officially welcome you to Pittsburgh.  I am very pleased and honored to be here today to present you, first with the key to the city."  Bruce rose and accepted the key shaking Brian's hand.  There were lots of pictures taken, including by Michael who thought he got several good ones for his scrapbook.  Bruce sat back down.

 

"I also have a second presentation, but before I get to that, I would like to admit publicly that I have been a fan of yours for many years.  In fact I invited a longtime friend here today because we had a band that was largely fashioned after yours, although the caliber of the talent was perhaps somewhat less."  There was general laughter.  "I hope after this ceremony that you might take a minute to meet this friend.  It would mean a lot to him.  Now, back to the agenda.  If the representatives of the various charities will come back up we would all like to present you with this plaque as a token of our appreciation for all the community service work you do."

When the photo op was over and refreshments were being served, Michael made his way back to Brian.

 

"Do you think he will speak to me?" Michael asked glancing hesitantly at Bruce.

 

"There's only one way to find out," Brian said and ushered Michael through the crowd of people to where the musician was surrounded by admirers.  They made way for the mayor.

 

"Is this the friend who wanted to meet me?" Bruce asked.

 

Brian nodded and Bruce held out his hand to Michael.  Michael shook it enthusiastically.

 

"This is so great.  I … I'm such a fan!  I'm so pleased to meet you."

Bruce grinned and Brian felt the necessity to say, "Bruce, this is Michael Novotny."

"Could I get your autograph, Mr. Springsteen?" Michael asked.

 

"Um … sure."  Bruce took the autograph book and signed it to Vic as Michael told him.  When he was done he turned to Brian.  "I was hoping I'd get the chance to tell you that I think it's great that you got elected."

 

"You do?  Why?" Brian asked.

 

"I think we need a more tolerant world, and your election is a good step towards that."

"I'm glad you think so, but I'm not so sure that's what's happening."  Bruce looked confused by Brian's statement.  "It's not something I can explain quickly, but thanks for the compliment."

 

Bruce nodded and then he was whisked away to God knows what next.  That was the end of the presentation and Springsteen and entourage were gone.  Michael looked at Brian.

 

"That was great!  Thanks for introducing me to him, or I probably wouldn't have even got near him.  Uncle Vic is going to be so stoked about the autograph."

"You're welcome, Mikey," Brian replied.  "I should get back to my office.  See ya!"

 

Brian walked out to the elevators and caught one.  All the way to his office two thoughts kept rolling through his head.  Bruce Springsteen thought he was making a difference and Justin should have been there.

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