Out of the Mouths of Babes

Michael was busy opening his latest shipment when the shopkeeper bell above the door of his comic book store began to ring. Typhoon Gus flew in in a whirlwind of energy, followed by his exhausted father. "Hey Michael!" Gus said in passing, as he bolted toward the racks of colorful books.

"Gus?" Michael looked up at Brian.

"Do you want to buy a kid?" Brian asked.

"No thanks, daddy. What's Gus doing with you in the middle of the day?" Michael wondered aloud.

"I'm suspended." Gus said proudly.

"Suspended?" Again Michael looked at Brian.

"It's a long story." Brian quickly changed the subject. "So what's the big news that you couldn't tell me over the phone?"

Michael took a deep breath. "Ben asked me to marry him," he said.

Brian paused for a moment before responding. "And what did you say?" he asked.

"I told him I would think about it." Michael said.

"Good."

"Good? What do you mean good? Of course I'm going to say yes." Michael grinned.

"Gus, be careful over there! Don't pull that rack over!" Brian called to his son.

"Well, aren't you going to congratulate me?" Michael's grin grew wider.

Again, Brian searched for the right words to say. "Michael, aren't you and Ben jumping the gun a little? Proposition 14 hasn't even been defeated yet."

"But it will, and when it does, Ben and I are going to be among the first gay men to be legally married in Pittsburgh." Michael said with most certainty.

"And you'd consider that an honor?" Brian said sarcastically.

"I should have known not to tell you." Michael resumed opening his boxes.

"No, I'm glad that you told me. Of course I'm happy for you Mikey." Brian lied. "I'm just worried that perhaps you're setting yourself up for hurt in the long run. Have you forgotten that Ben is positive?"

"Positive what?" Gus called from the other side of the room.

"Read your comic book!" Brian called back to him.

Michael moved in closer to his best friend, and lowered his voice. "Of course I haven't forgotten that Ben is positive, but what the hell am I supposed to do? I love him…"

"Then fall out of love with him, and in love with someone who's not positive." Brian lowered his voice as well. "Michael you're signing onto a sinking ship. There's still no cure for AIDS…."

"Ben is HIV positive, he doesn't have AIDS." Michael corrected him.

"Not yet, but we all know what the outcome is going to be, now don't we?" Brian said.

"Can I get this Superman?" Gus held up a comic book.

"Yes…yes… get whatever you want!" Brian called back to him.

Michael continued. "Don't you think I've considered that? I know there are some things that Ben and I will never be able to share because of his positive status…."

"This isn't only about fucking bareback, Michael. What about when Ben gets sick again? You were a fucking basket case last time." Brian reminded him. "Have you even considered the physical, the emotional, not to mention the financial strain loving someone who's positive can place on a marriage…?"

"Who says that Ben is going to get sick again? New drugs are being developed everyday, drugs that can keep the virus at bay, and virtually undetectable in the blood." Michael said.

"And that's another thing that worries me." Brian added. "Once you and Ben are married, and you've both settled down into your everyday lives, it's easy to let your guards down. It only takes one slip-up, and you'll be infected right along with Ben. No, I don't want you to marry him. Case closed."

"I'm not asking for your blessing, or your permission, Brian. I just wanted to share my happiness with you, but now I see that was a mistake. You know, you've got a lot of nerve worrying about me marrying Ben, when you're fucking not one, but two men without protection." Michael reminded him.

"Two men who are both negative." Brian made the distinction.

"You don't know that. You're only going by trust. You trust Justin and Tony the same way that I trust Ben not to be anything less than diligent when it comes to protecting me." Michael said.

Brian had no comeback for that one. Instead he walked around to the other side of the counter, and placed his arms around his friend. "I don't know what I'd do if anything ever happened to you. I love you, Michael," he whispered.

"Then wish me well, and promise you'll be my best man." Michael said.

"Only if you'll promise not to make me wear a white tuxedo." Brian stipulated.

"I promise." Michael smiled.

The two men were unaware that they had gained an audience. Michael looked down to find Gus standing with an armful of comic books, and watching them. "Hey Gus, I'm getting married!" Michael beamed.

Gus's eyes lit up as well. "When? My moms are married. I carried the rings. Do you want me to carry your rings, Michael?" the little boy volunteered.

"We'll talk about it." Michael said.

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Brian paid for the comic books, then headed back to work with his son. He had hoped that Superman, Batman, and Spiderman would keep Gus occupied for the rest of the day while he finished up his latest project. However, thanks to Michael, that plan seemed to be backfiring on him. With the memory of his mommies' wedding rekindled in his mind, Gus was now all excited about Michael's upcoming nuptials. Would his moms be invited, would he be getting a new suit, were there going to be any other kids at the wedding?…The endless stream of questions rolled off of the precocious six year old's tongue during their drive back to the office. Brian fielded each question with one word answers until Gus came upon this one: "When are you going to get married, pop?"

Brian paused for a moment before responding. This one was going to be a little tricky. While he himself was staunchly against the hetero hell arrangement, both of Gus's moms still placed a high value in the bankrupt institution. Brian decided to go for the most simplistic answer, in hopes that Gus would not want to elaborate. "I'm not getting married," he said.

"Why not?" Gus asked.

"Because I don't want to get married." Brian could feel it coming.

"My mom says that when you love somebody you're suppose to marry them. Don't you love Justin?" Gus opened up on his pop with both barrels.

"Of course I love Justin, I just don't want to marry him." Brian tried to back away.

"Then are you going to marry Tony?" Gus pressed the issue.

"Gus, I'm not marrying anybody, now read your comics!" Brian ended the conversation, and returned to concentrating on his driving.

Gus immediately quieted down, and opened one of his comic books, just as his father had ordered him to do. Brian glanced over at his son from the corner of his eye. Shit, he hadn't handled that one very well. His son had asked him a legitimate question, and in true Jack Kinney fashion, Brian had raised his voice, and all but told him to shut up. Brian decided to try again. "Gus, it takes more than loving someone to be married to them," he said.

Gus looked up at his father.

Brian continued. "You see, son, when you get married you have to give up something very special. You have to give up your privacy. Remember when Megan came to visit you, and you became sick of her, and you wanted her to go home?"

Gus nodded his head yes.

"Well that's kind of like being married. You have to be around the same person all the time. Even when you get sick of them, they can't go home, because they're already at home." Brian explained.

"My moms like to be around each other. They're always kissing, and you're always kissing Justin. I've never kissed Megan." Gus rationalized.

Brian decided to try another route. "When you're married you have to share everything. Remember how angry you got when your mom made you share your toys with Megan?"

"That's because Megan broke one of my Ninja Turtles!" Gus growled.

"Well marriage is all about sharing, and sometimes the person that you're married to will break your things." Brian said.

"Can't you make them pay for it?" Gus asked.

"Nope, because once you get married, everything that's yours also belongs to the person that you're married to." Brian once again explained.

"That's not fair." Gus frowned.

"No it isn't." Brian was on a roll now. "And another thing. When Megan comes to visit, and the two of you start to argue, she can always go back home. When you're married you have to stay there together, even when you're arguing. You know how it sounds when your moms argue."

"Yeah, they yell at each other." Gus said.

"So now do you understand why I don't want to get married?" Brian asked.

Gus nodded his head yes.

Brian returned to his driving. Again he watched from the corner of his eye as Gus opened the latest edition of Batman, and began flipping through its pages. Great job, dad. Brian gave himself a silent pat on the back, and smiled. How proud he was of himself for the way he had handled that one. Indeed, Brian had effectively gotten his point across, without undermining the values that Lindsey and Melanie had instilled in their son. Brian was still gloating when suddenly, out of the mouths of babes…..

"That's ok. Tony can marry Justin." Gus uttered to himself.

Once again Brian looked over at his son. Only this time he wasn't smiling.

NEXT WEEK: Farewell To Falwell, pt. 1

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