They Say It's Your Birthday

Chapter 6

“Fuck! That was awesome,” Justin said as he collapsed atop his husband. “I can’t believe that we can still do this to each other.”

“Why do you think we’re still together?” Brian asked smugly as they rolled apart. Justin swatted his arrogant and beautiful husband. “Ow!” Brian reacted. “Spousal abuse.”

“Asshole,” Justin replied before he looked at Brian and smiled. “You know, when you hold that water bottle over your head, I’m seventeen again, and you’re … twenty-nine.”

“Thanks for reminding me.”

“You’re always going to be twelve years older than me,” Justin reminded him.

“Hey, that’s the line I use on John.”

“I know, and I think you’re going to get a taste of your own medicine this birthday.”

Brian frowned and studied Justin’s face. “What are you planning?”

“What makes you think I’m planning anything?”

“Okay, then what is the big old fairy planning?”

Justin chuckled. “I’m not aware of anything Emmett is planning, and if I was, I wouldn’t tell you.”

“Spousal abuse,” Brian reiterated.

“How do you figure that?” Justin laughed.

“You’re supposed to have my back.”

“I thought I had all of you,” Justin said with his own style of smirk.

“You know you do.”

“Yes, I do know.”

“So, what’s he planning?”

“You just don’t give up, do you?’

“Not usually.”

“I’m not telling you anything.”

“You know I hate surprises.”

“I know.”

“So, no surprises?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Have I told you lately how annoying you are?”

“You’re always telling me that.”

“Am I becoming … predictable?” Brian asked in mock horror.

“This has to be the weirdest conversation we’ve ever had,” Justin surmised.

“Is that because I’m going to be fifty?”

“Could be.”

“Shit!”

“It’s okay, hubby dearest, I’ll look after you in your senility.”

“You realize I may have to kill you.”

“I’ll take my chances,” Justin chuckled. “I think you love my ass too much to do away with me.”

“Wanna fuck?” Brian asked.

“Sure,” Justin agreed as they started another one.

*****

“Where are you going?” Justin asked as Brian entered the sun porch where Justin was painting. Brian was dressed casually but elegantly, not in his running gear.

“Ted called and they want me for some fucked up thing at Kinnetik.”

“Oh,” Justin said with disappointment in his voice. “I’ll miss your run.”

Brian stuck his tongue in his cheek and then grinned. “I will too.”

“You could make it up to me later.”

“I will.”

“Sweat and water bottle included?”

“I’ll do my best.”

“Good,” Justin said as he pecked Brian on the cheek. “Have fun terrorizing them at Kinnetik.”

“I will.”

*****

“Schmidt!” Brian called forcefully as he walked into Kinnetik.

“Yes, Boss, good to see you.”

“So what’s this crisis that you needed me for?” Brian demanded not bothering with pleasantries.

“It’s on your desk.”

“On my desk?” Brian asked wondering if Ted had finally lost it completely.

“Yes, the package came this morning. It’s labeled personal and urgent.”

“What the fuck?” Brian asked as he stared at the brown box sitting atop his desk at Kinnetik. “I didn’t order anything.”

“There’s no return address or any indication of where it came from,” Ted explained. “But it said urgent, so I thought I should get you in here to deal with it.”

“Why didn’t you open it?’

“It said ‘personal’,” Ted reminded him with a shudder. “I couldn’t imagine what I might find inside.”

Brian snorted. “You were really afraid that it’s a bomb, so you wanted me to be the one to open it,” Brian snarked.

“Well that too,” Ted said with a grin.

Brian walked over to the desk. He gingerly lifted the box which was about a cubic foot in size. It was very light. “Here,” Brian said as he tossed the box at Ted.

Ted caught it almost dropping it in the process. “Shit!”

“I guess it’s not a bomb,” Brian said with a smirk.

“Great way to find out,” Ted retorted as he tossed the box back to Brian. “Are you going to open it?”

“I haven’t decided yet.”

Ted glanced at the box. He wished Brian would just open the damn thing and be done with it.

“Was there anything else you brought me here for?” Brian asked as he turned the box over and over looking for some clue as to what it might be or why it was sent to him.

“Um, the latest Brown Athletic ads are almost ready, but Cynthia thinks they need some fine tuning, maybe some of the old Kinney cutting edge added to them.”

Brian felt a smile creep over his face. “I guess I still have it,” he muttered to himself.

“We know you do,” Ted said, and he meant every word.

“Okay, let’s open this damn box.” Brian picked up the letter opener on his desk and ran it over the packing tape that held the box closed. He popped the flaps and rummaged inside the box. He pulled out a small box. “What the fuck?” Brian asked to no one in particular.

“What is it?” Ted asked.

“Cookie cutters.”

“Huh?’

“Anatomically correct cookie cutters, if the picture on the box is correct.”

“Is there a note?” Ted asked as bewildered as Brian.

Brian rummaged in the box finally finding an envelope at the bottom. He pulled it out and ripped it open. He pulled out a card, looked at the front of it and then opened it to scan the inside. “Fuck!” he said.

“What is it?”

“An Un-birthday card.”

“What the hell is that?”

“Look for yourself.” Brian handed Ted the card.

The front of it said, “Happy Upcoming Fiftieth Un-Birthday!”

“Nice font,” Ted said trying not to grin. Brian glared at him.

Inside the card was a neatly typed message:

I know how much you love sweets, so when you turn fifty and are no longer able to get it up, you can bake anatomically correct cookies with your much younger mate. You’ll learn to love baking and eating sweet confections, especially the most essential part.

Looking out for you as you age gracefully.

“Wow!” Ted said. “I wonder who sent this.”

“You’re sure it wasn’t you?”

“I could have left it on your desk if it was me,” Ted informed his boss. “I wouldn’t waste the cost of a courier.”

“Unless you wanted to throw me off.”

“True,” Ted admitted.

“I’m going to have to kill whoever sent this.”

“Of course, Boss.”

“Do you know something about this?” Brian asked with a frown.

“Me, no, of course not, never, Boss.”

Brian frowned. “Put this in the closet,” Brian ordered. “I’m not fifty yet.”

“Yes, Boss,” Ted acquiesced taking the box to Brian’s coat closet and placing it inside.

“Okay, let’s see the Brown ads.”

“Coming right up,” Ted said, glad the first of the gifts had rattled his boss just a little bit. He truly hoped Brian wouldn’t kill him before this was over.

*****

“Brian, Matthew will be here soon to take me to lunch. Can I bring something back for you?” Cynthia asked as she came into Brian’s office. It took him a second to realize that Cynthia was referring to her significant other of many years. Brian had been pouring over contracts and brooding over his ‘un-gift.’

“No thanks, Cyn. I’m going to meet Ben at Papaganos at one.”

“Ben?”

“Ben. Big guy, works out a lot. Married to Michael Novotny,” Brian retorted.

“I know who Ben is,” Cynthia grumbled. “I didn’t know you still did lunch.”

“Not as often as I’d like but we try when I’m in town.”

“That’s nice,” Cynthia said sincerely, making Brian frown. “Why the face?”

“When did I become nice?” Brian asked, unsure if he liked being known as nice.

Cynthia burst out laughing. “I hate to break it to you, Brian, but you’ve been nice for some time now.”

“Really?” he asked, truly perplexed.

“Take my word for it. You’ve grown into a very, very nice man.” Brian looked at her in horror. “It’s not a bad thing, Bri. Don’t worry, the name Brian Kinney continues to instill fear and awe in the hearts and minds of us mere mortals,” Cynthia reassured her business partner, colleague and longtime friend with a chuckle. She affectionately poked the tip of his nose.

Brian sighed with relief.

“Cynthia, Matthew’s here,” a voice over the intercom announced.

“I’ll be right there,” she called out toward Brian’s phone. “Have a nice lunch!” Cynthia teased as she left Brian’s office, giggling. Brian threw a death glare at her retreating back. He signed off on several new campaigns then shut down his computer, preparing to go to lunch.

“Schmidt!” Brian bellowed as forcefully as he could.

“Yes, Boss!” Ted replied quickly.

“I’m going to lunch, hold down the fort.”

“Of course, Boss.”

Brian headed for the door with Ted following at a discreet distance just in case Brian wanted anything before he left the building.

“Ted.” Brian suddenly turned on his heel to face his CFO and friend.

“Yes, Brian,” Ted said gently, suddenly concerned, seeing something on Brian’s face.

“Am I nice?”

“Brian?” Ted had no idea how to respond to Brian’s question and was a little worried.

“It’s a simple question, Theodore. Am. I. Nice?” Brian glared.

“Yes,” Ted quickly replied.

“Yes, what?”

“Yes, boss.”

“No. Yes, I’m nice?”

“Yes, Brian, you are very nice.” Brian gave Ted an incredulous look then left Kinnetik.

“What was that all about?” Molly asked Ted when he got back to his desk. She had witnessed their exchange.

“I have no clue.” Ted sat with a thud. “He wanted to know if I thought he was nice.”

“What did you tell him?”

“I said yes. Brian is nice. He got this weird look on his face then left. I wonder what that was all about?”

“I have no clue,” Molly repeated, just as perplexed as Ted.

*****

“Mr. Brian! So good to see you again, my friend,” Alberto greeted Brian with a handshake and a hug as Brian walked into the restaurant.

“Good to see you too.” Brian smiled at Papaganos’ main man.

“How is Mr. Justin and your beautiful children. The little bambina must be getting big.”

“Yes she is, and the big one is almost out of college. I’m getting old, Alberto,” Brian said with a wistful smile.

“Nonsense. Bello, bello,” Alberto gushed. “Come, your guest is seated.” Alberto escorted Brian to his table. Ben stood to greet Brian with a handshake.

Alberto snapped his fingers and like magic, sparkling water, warm crusty bread and the house salad appeared, delivered by several waiters. Alberto gave the stunning men a bow then went back to his post by the door to the main dining room.

“We’re being stared at,” Ben commented as he took a sip of water.

“We are the best looking men here,” Brian quipped immodestly as he nibbled on his salad. Ben shook his head. “You and I bring a lot of business to this place, of course we get the VIP treatment. They’re staring because the mere mortals want to know who we are.”

“You, maybe.”

“Don’t play coy with me, professor. You’re a good looking man, a tenured, respected member of a prestigious university. Carnegie Mellon holds many of their important functions here.”

“How do you know this?”

“You forget that Kinnetik holds the advertising accounts for both this place and for Carnegie. Your enrollment is up and Papaganos has never been busier. We did good,” Brian boasted, very pleased with himself. The men clinked their glasses.

They dug into their salads and warm bread.

“How’s Mikey?” Brian asked after a while.

“Good. Real good. He’s back to work fulltime, but between Debbie and the girls, he’s home on time every night. Not even inventory keeps him at the store late.”

“About fucking time! He’s the owner; he doesn’t have to work himself into an early grave. Girls?”

“JR and Candy. They’ve taken over the store,” Ben said with a laugh.

Brian smirked. “I understand JR, but Candy?”

“JR is handling the business end of things while Candy has taken over Rage,” Ben explained. “Not only have her drawings improved to the point where you can hardly tell the difference between hers, Lacy’s and Justin’s, she’s now writing plot. Justin still gets final approval over the art and Michael, the plot and dialogue.”

“And Mikey’s cool with this?”

“Yes, surprisingly, he is. It amuses him that Rage, the first real gay comic book hero is now almost solely written and illustrated by women.” Ben laughed. Brian chuckled as well.

“You should do that more often,” Brian commented.

“What?”

“Laugh,” Brian replied. Ben was still hot, his crystal blue eyes sparkling.

“You’re being nice,” Ben said with a blush to his cheeks.

“There’s that word again,” Brian frowned.

“What word?” Ben thought hard. “Nice?” Brian nodded with a scowl making Ben chuckle. “Brian, I hate to break it to you but the whole world knows just how nice you can be. You’re still ruthless when it comes to the advertising business but when it comes to family, friends and fighting for the underdog, you are nice,” Ben declared emphatically.

“I’m not sure if I like being nice.”

“Take my word for it, you do. Now, I have something for you,” Ben said as he took out a small box from his pocket then placed it on the table between them.

“What is it?” Brian asked.

“Not a clue. It was delivered to my office this morning by courier. It was in a larger envelope with my name on it. When I opened it, this is what was inside with this note.” Ben handed Brian the note. All the note said was, Please give this box to Brian Kinney. “How anyone knew I was going to see you today is the big question. I didn’t know you were in town until this morning when you called.”

“Hmmm,” Brian mumbled as he fingered the wrapping.

“Are you going to open it?”

“I received something similar this more at the office,” Brian said as he gently fingered the ribbon. He picked up the small box, giving it a cursory shake.

“I don’t think it’ll explode,” Ben said. “Open it,” he urged.

Brian carefully untied the ribbon then slipped his fingers under the tape. The crisp blue wrapping paper unfolded revealing a silvery box. Brian opened the box then stared at its contents.

“What is it?” Ben asked. Brian slid the box over to Ben, but first removed the card that was tucked inside. “It’s a stress ball,” Ben said without calling attention to the shape or the color of the ‘ball.’ It was reminiscent of the infamous little blue pill.

For when those days or nights become stressful and you find that you’re not as ‘up’ as you’d like to be…just give your little blue ball a squeeze and your troubles will go away!

Looking out for you as you age gracefully!

“Fuck!” Brian murmured as Ben laughed.