Chapter 16 - Something In The Way.
Even with all the activities available at the fair, Brian wasn’t at all surprised when Justin homed in on the animal barns first. They’d been here over an hour now, and still all Justin wanted to do was pet one smelly farm animal after another. Meanwhile, Brian was itching to get out to the Midway where there were some pretty exciting looking rides. That was more what Brian considered fun. Wasn’t that why they were here at the Fair in the first place? So they could have a ‘Bumper Crop of Fun’? Of course, since Justin had set himself up as the arbiter of all things ‘fun’, Brian was at his mercy for the time being.
“Isn’t she the sweetest little baby you’ve ever seen,” Justin was cooing as he fondled yet another animal. “I wish we could take her with us! She wouldn’t take up much room. And she’d be even more cuddly than the baby skunks, don’t you think, Brian?”
Brian looked over to see what type of farmyard beast his little blond was now demanding that they adopt. Brian was not at ALL pleased to note that this time Justin was standing next to a pen filled with a huge white sow and her litter of about a dozen piglets. Justin had already apparently made fast friends with one of the more inquisitive piglets who was trying its best to get out of the pen and into Justin’s arms. The squirmy little pink thing was kind of cute, Brian had to admit, in a Babe The Pig kind of way. But then again, he didn’t want it to end up in their RV for the remaining thousand miles of their journey either. Especially not if he’d be expected to share a bed with the thing in the process.
“Justin . . .” Brian struggled with the gentlest way to make his point, and then got inspired when he looked over at the other occupants of the pen. “Sunshine, do you see the mother pig over there?” Brian pointed to the cute little piglet’s fifteen hundred pound mother who was rooting in the grass a few feet away. “Your little friend here is admittedly cute right now, but THAT’S what she’ll look like in just a few months. Do you really want to try and cuddle with her when she’s that size?”
Justin tilted his head to the side and wrinkled up his nose adorably as he contemplated the enormity of the huge Middle White sow. “Hmmmm. Mamma Pig is a bit large, isn’t she? She wouldn’t fit in the RV, I don’t think. Oh well. You’re probably right, Brian. Baby piggies need to stay with their huge mommies. But she is sweet.”
Brian was relieved to see Justin give the little piglet one last pat and then compliantly move away. He was also happy that this seemed like the last barn full of animals, so that meant that he could finally entice his young blond charge away towards the more lively areas of the Fair. Really, it was bad enough that Brian had let himself be talked into doing something as tacky as going to a State Fair, but how the fuck had he let himself get railroaded into spending any time at all in the animal barns? This little blond mental patient must have some kind of sneaky superpowers to make Brian Kinney act so out of character.
Once they got back onto the Midway, Brian felt at least a little bit better. The sun was just setting and the lights were starting to come up. It was at least festive enough to make him forget that he was in the middle of Nebraska at a fucking State Fair. He could do this, right? Justin was wrong that he didn’t know how to have fun. Brian just had a different definition of fun . . . and he didn’t think his neophyte ward was ready for THAT type of fun yet, so he’d just have to make do. And the best place to start on that endeavor was the carnival rides.
Brian looked into his wallet to see if he had enough to buy them some ride tickets but was immediately reminded that he’d spent his last cash at the RV park. Damn. Well, he’d just have to visit the ATM that he’d seen back by the entrance gate. Although Brian did make a mental note to talk to Justin about making the remainder of his adventures less cash dependent.
“Sunshine, I need to go to the ATM and get some money so we can go on a few of these rides. You can just sit tight here and wait for me, okay?” Brian directed, sitting the younger man down on an empty table at the edge of the food court area. Justin didn’t seem concerned about Brian leaving him - he simply smiled, pulled his sketchbook out of the backpack he’d appropriated from the RV and started doodling. “Don’t wander off. I’ll be right back,” Brian warned.
The ATM was on the far side of the Fair complex, so it took Brian a while to make his way over there. He also had to stand in line behind the other cash poor shleps waiting for the machine. He eventually did make it to the ATM, popped in his bank card, pulled up his current available balance and then groaned aloud. Despite the fact that they’d been pretty frugal these past few days, Brian’s account was sorely depleted. He now had less than fifty bucks in his checking account. There was probably still enough on his one last credit card to buy another full tank of gas for the RV, but that was all. There was really nothing left for groceries or anything else. And, after tonight, they probably couldn’t even afford the fees for another RV park. It looked like they’d be parking on the side of the road to camp the next few nights. It was definitely going to be a close call whether or not they’d make it back to Pittsburgh.
Brian took out $20 - enough for a couple rides tonight - but that was all he was willing to invest in Justin’s idea of fun. And they wouldn’t get to splurge on dinner at the Fair either. He hoped that the groceries in the RV would hold out for the rest of the trip - after watching the way Justin ate, he wasn’t sure about that, though. Oh well. Brian was doing the best he could. It would have to be good enough.
Brian was still stressing over his money woes as he was walking back towards the food court area where he'd left his blond. When he got close enough, he looked up, hoping to glimpse the boy obediently waiting for him as directed. Unfortunately, the first thing he noted was that there seemed to be a huge commotion taking place right around the place where he'd left the kid. Where Justin was supposed to be sitting all alone at an empty picnic table, there was now about twenty five people milling around and hovering over the table. Shit! Knowing the way trouble seemed to follow the boy around, Brian was instantly worried. He hoped Justin hadn't gotten scared when Brian hadn't returned as quickly as expected. What if the kid had had another panic attack. Or worse, what if someone had taken offense at one of the oddball things the kid said sometimes?
Brian broke into a sprint, covering the short distance in only seconds, feeling a bit panicky himself.
“Justin! Justin, what's wrong?” Brian viciously elbowed his way into the crowd swarming the picnic table through which he could just barely see a blond head. “Justin! . . . What the fuck?”
“Brian!” Justin beamed up at the frightened brunet as soon as Brian made enough headway through the throng that his little blond could see him. “Look, Brian. I’m an artist! For real! I’m not pretending this time, either. All these people want me to draw their pictures. And they’re even giving me money. I didn’t have to do any hand jobs either! Isn’t that the coolest thing ever?”
Justin held up his sketch pad that currently displayed a black and white drawing of the two fair-goers sitting across the table from the happy little blond boy. Lying on the table next to Justin’s backpack was a small stack of ten and twenty dollar bills. Off to the side of the group, Justin’s last customer was standing there showing off his own caricature drawing - this one done with a bit of color that featured the guy’s bright red t-shirt and showed him smirking. Brian had to admit that it was a pretty good likeness for a caricature. The crowd of folks all eagerly waiting in line for their turns seemed to agree
.
For about the next hour or so, Justin continued to scribble away at a frantic pace drawing sketch after sketch. Brian contented himself with just watching while he held the kid’s money. It was amazing how much dough the novice artist was raking in. Brian took over the job of negotiating Justin’s fees - charging ten dollars a pop for a single black and white sketch, fifteen for a sketch with more than one subject and twenty for a colored sketch. Justin was incredibly fast at these little drawings, too - which meant that he was able to pop off one every ten minutes or so. In no time at all, Brian had over a hundred dollars in his hands. Not bad at all for a kid who until just a few days before hadn’t even been allowed out of the house he’d grown up in. Brian was really proud of how great the kid’s sketches were being received and how much money Justin had been able to make because of that fact.
When Brian noticed that Justin’s sketching was slowing down and the artist had to take a couple short breaks to shake out his hand, he figured that it was time to call it a night. As soon as Justin finished the last sketch he’d been working on, Brian stood up and addressed the crowd. “Sorry, folks. I think that’s about all Justin can do for now. If we don’t stop now, he won’t be able to draw anything tomorrow.” There was a huge groan of complaint from those who had been waiting.
Brian could already tell that Justin was about to cave in and take on another customer, so he jumped in and intervened by taking away the sketchbook, stowing it in the backpack and physically lifting the boy out of his seat.
The masses dispersed after that, albeit with a lot of grumbling. Justin was frowning - looking back over his shoulder at his lost customers and dragging his feet. Brian ignored him and swiftly bundled his entrepreneurial artist away, heading swiftly down the the midway.
“But, Brian . . . All those people were waiting for me for so long. I shouldn’t just leave them there like that,” Justin was still complaining a good five minutes later. “I liked drawing pictures for them. It was fun and they all seemed to like me so much. Are you sure it was time to stop?”
“Yes, Sunshine, I’m sure. I saw the way your hand was starting to cramp up. That was a sure sign that you’d done enough,” Brian insisted.
“It was really nice that they all gave me money for my pictures, wasn’t it? Did we get a lot of money?” Justin asked, a little mollified by Brian’s show of concern for him.
“Actually, yeah. You made a fast $130, Sunshine. Not bad at all for your first day as a working stiff.”
“I’m not stiff, Brian. My hand IS a little tired - it’s not stiff, though. See,” Justin flexed his fingers in Brian’s face before continuing. “But $130! Wow! That’s really a lot, isn’t it? We’re rich, Brian!” Justin’s smile somehow grew even brighter and threatened to outshine the neon lights of the Midway. “I hope it’s enough so that you won’t have to be so worried about money and how to get us home anymore,” the boy added with a wink. “I know you were worried about money stuff. I saw the way you looked when the lady at the RV park took your money this afternoon. But now that we have all this money it’ll be okay, right?”
“You shouldn’t be worrying about all that, Justin. I’ll get us back one way or another. I’m the one that talked you into going to Portland with me in the first place, so it’s my problem about how to get us back. Not yours. And, anyway, this is your money, Sunshine, not mine,” Brian said, pulling the wad of cash out of the front pocket of his jeans and handing it to it’s owner. “You earned it with your hard work and your art while I just sat there watching. You can spend it however you want. I don’t expect you to be supporting me while we’re on the road. You keep your money and do something fun with it.” When Justin hesitated to take back the money, Brian simply tucked it into Justin’s jean’s pocket. “Now, come on. I want to take you on a couple of these rides and then we can head back to the RV Park and see what else is still in the fridge that we can make up for dinner.”
“No!” Justin stopped dead in the middle of the pathway, tugging on Brian’s hand to make him stop too. “No, Brian. That’s not right!” When it looked like Brian was going to argue with him, Justin cut him off immediately. “No, Brian. It’s really not right. You’ve been taking care of me all this time. You took me away from the scary hospital and you’ve taken me to all these interesting places. You’ve shown me so many new things and taught me all about everything in the real world. AND, so far, you’ve paid for everything. But, that’s not right. I want to help. I want to take care of you too. So you have to take this money and use it to take care of both of us . . . If I had more money I’d give it all to you.” Brian opened his mouth intending to protest, but Justin turned to him, placed his fingers over Brian’s lips to stop his words and looked up pleadingly into the beautiful hazel eyes. “You’re the only person in the whole world who even cares that I’m alive, Brian. You’re the only one who’s ever seen me. I was invisible before I met you. You’re making me into a real person, Brian. A person who isn’t scared of the world on the outside. And that means so much more than anyone could ever know. So you’re going to take this money - and if I can figure out how to get more, I’ll give that to you too - and you’re going to let me take care of you a little bit too. And teach you about having fun. And compromising. Because that’s what boyfriends do, right?”
“Justin . . .” Brian fully intended to protest, but was stopped again, this time by Justin reaching around behind his neck and pulling his head down so that he could reach Brian’s lips with his own.
“I might not know anything about the real world or sex or having jobs or anything like that, Brian,” Justin added as soon as the kiss ended. “But I do know that we should be taking care of each other. That’s what people who care about one another do. And you’re not going to ever convince me otherwise. So stop trying to argue with me, because I just won’t listen.” Justin kissed Brian solidly, without any of his usual reticence, and then hit him with one of his blindingly bright smiles before he shoved the wad of greenbacks back into Brian’s hands. “Now . . . you are going to take me on all of these rides and then buy us dinner with that money. And then we’re going to go back to the RV park and you can teach me how to do some other boyfriend things. And don’t even try to argue, Mr. Kinney, ‘cause it won’t work.”
“Did anyone ever tell you that you’re an annoying little twat, Sunshine?” Brian asked with a teasing little tilt to his head.
“My mother told me that pretty much every day of my life,” Justin admitted but without seeming too upset by the thought. “Well, she never used the word ‘Twat” but it was the same sentiment . . . What exactly is a ‘Twat’ anyway, Brian?”
“Something I hope you’ll never have to worry about, Sunshine,” Brian laughed at the abrupt, and very welcomed, change of subject. “Well, fine. If you insist that we HAVE to use your money, Sunshine, then I say let’s get started on that plan. First one to the ferris wheel gets to choose what boyfriend thing we do next.”
Brian took off running down the crowded midway full sprint, dodging the startled people all around him, and making Justin laugh out loud. The blond boy started running after him. The folks in their path moved out of the way quickly, thinking that they were acting a little crazy. And for once, Brian Kinney didn’t mind in the least that he was acting like a kid.
Three hours later, the two ‘boys’ finally took their last ride down the giant slide after having stuffed themselves with corn dogs, onion rings, sodas and funnel cakes. They’d been on every single ride at the Fair at least once - the Zipper three times, since it turned out to be Brian’s favorite - and Brian had even won Justin a plush pink and white stuffed piglet at the ring toss game, commenting that here was his piglet to cuddle with. When a kindly looking little old lady offered to take their picture, they readily agreed, and even made use of the head-in-hole wooden cutout stands.
The two fully stuffed and exhausted boys finally agreed they’d had enough fun for one night right about the time the carnies started to close up the midway. Despite their wholesome midwestern surroundings, Brian put his arm around Justin’s shoulders and even kissed him on the cheek as they ambled past the now almost deserted carnival area. Justin slipped his arm around Brian’s waist and squeezed him back.
“This was the best night of my life, Just Brian!” Justin proclaimed, his eyes glinting with a hint of wetness as he looked up at Brian so adoringly that it scared the older man - it also made him feel guilty, because Brian knew he would have to give his boy up in the not so distant future.
Brian was taken by surprise when, a moment later, the boy stopped in his tracks and pulled the taller man around so that they were looking at each other face to face. Their eyes locked. Their elated smiles matched. And Brian found himself thinking that he’d never had more fun in his entire life than he’d had with this crazy, innocent, untamed, little blond boy - not that he’d be admitting that fact aloud any time soon.
“By the looks of things, it was the best night of your life too, Brian. You should see your face right now. You look so happy and beautiful. I told you I could teach you how to have fun!” Justin punctuated his words with a kiss that spoke all his feelings for this wonderful man. “Now, let's go do more boyfriend things together. I want to try this thing I read about - I think it was called snowballing - it sounds like fun! Can you still do it in the summertime though? Cause I don’t think there’s any snow around here . . .”
Brian’s shoulders shook with laughter at Justin’s suggestion. The kid really was an adorable little shit, he thought to himself.
“I don’t think you're quite ready for that Sunshine - but I’m sure we'll think of something.”
