The Title Will Go Here - 12. Chapter 12

- XII -

He looked at the phone in his hand, silently debating with himself – should he call Leon right now or Katherine? To be honest, calling Katherine sounded more tempting. He was itching to tell her about everything that happened – the strange melody, his weird awakening in the middle of the night, burning desire to create music, Gemini’s sleepwalking, his scary transformation, his stunning reaction to that melody, the revelation that both of them received an hour ago... He had to discuss it with someone, had to figure out what the hell was going on, and Katherine was the perfect candidate for that – the amount of knowledge that woman had could put a decent-size library to shame. He was sure that if he told her everything that happened, she would come up with a solution. Maybe not the solution, but at least, she would help.

On the other hand, he knew that if he didn’t call Leon any time soon, he would have hell to pay next time he saw his friend. Leon would fume for a while, Stratos knew that; but he also knew that if he waited too long before calling him, it would make things even worse. If he didn’t want another angry explosion in his face (something like this happened a couple of years ago, and it wasn’t pretty), then he’d better call Leon right now and wait to meet Katherine until tomorrow.

He twirled his phone in his hand for a couple more minutes, and then sighed and flipped it open.

“Hey,” he said a minute later and closed his eyes when he received nothing but silence in return.

Finally, there was a deep, long sigh, and Stratos opened his eyes, feeling relieved when he heard a gloomy:

“Hey...”

“It’s me,” he said, knowing exactly what Leon would say to that if he really cooled off by now.

“No shit,” Leon said with mild amusement, and Stratos smiled. He was hoping to hear that.

“Meet me at the ‘Breeze’?” he offered and smiled again when there was weak interest in Leon’s voice.

“Oh...?” he said.

‘Breeze’ was Leon’s favorite coffee shop, and Stratos was perfectly aware of that.

“Yeah,” he said casually. “After that we could head to ‘Black Lotus’...”

“Gregorio...” Leon sighed, and Stratos smiled wider.

Every time Leon would call him by his last name, it meant that Stratos was forgiven, even though he would still have some serious kissing up to do. He was fine with that. He looked at the clock.

“Four o’clock?” Stratos offered, and almost laughed out loud when he heard:

“You are driving.”

“So you want me to pick you up, princess?” he asked, and Leon let out a sigh.

“No,” he said. “I’ll meet you at the ‘Breeze.’ I need to hit the library.”

“Sounds good,” Stratos nodded mostly to himself. “And after dinner, we...”

“See you at four,” Leon interrupted him, and Stratos briefly closed his eyes when the phone suddenly clicked dead.

Yes, he was forgiven, but it didn’t mean that he wouldn’t be punished. He sighed and put the phone on the table. After doing that, he stood still for a minute, thinking. Then he sighed again and headed upstairs; if they were going to ‘Black Lotus,’ then he had to wear something other than his jeans – it wasn’t a casual kind of place.

...He was in the middle of choosing a shirt when he heard the bathroom door open. He automatically glanced at his watch. 3:10; Gemini had been in the shower for longer than an hour. Stratos let out an inaudible sigh. Gemini always took long showers, and they got longer, depending on how upset he was – Stratos figured it out by the end of the first week they lived in the same house. If he was in a good mood, he’d be done with his shower in about thirty minutes, give or take. Stratos sighed when he remembered yesterday morning – it’s been two hours before Gemini finally left the bathroom. Stratos couldn’t figure out why he would be in such a bad mood, it puzzled him the entire morning. Now, however, he knew the reason perfectly – he was about to go meet Katherine for coffee, and apparently, that was a worse thing than discovering that you had some impressive powers for your entire life, except, you were unable to use them. Today the shower lasted for one hour and ten minutes.

Stratos looked at the shirts in front of him, shrugged, and grabbed the one that was closer to him. He came out of the closet and threw the shirt on the bed.

“You are leaving?” he heard behind his back, and turned around.

“Yeah,” he nodded when he saw the slightly darkened golden eyes. “I have to meet Leon...” He sighed. “I’ve been an ass to him; I need to make up for that... You can come with me if you...”

“That’s okay,” Gemini interrupted him immediately. “I’ll be here.”

“Right,” Stratos muttered, figuring that it was probably a good idea. Actually, it was a great idea, considering that Leon wasn’t really fond of Gemini, to say mildly.

He finished getting dressed in less than ten minutes, and quickly walked to the bathroom for his hairbrush.

“I’ll be back in a few hours,” he said after he was satisfied with his reflection. “Figure out what you want to do...”

Gemini let out a small smile, his eyes not dark anymore, and stepped closer, immediately finding Stratos’ lips with his mouth. He pulled away a few minutes later, and Stratos cursed silently when there was that very familiar, slow blink-like rising of the long eyelashes. He glanced at the clock.

“I get your idea,” he nodded energetically after he realized that it was already 3:20. He had to leave, since he knew that if he were late to meet Leon today, he would have to deal with another fit. “And by the way...” He stopped right after he almost walked away. “Do you really need that towel...?”

He received another small smile, and cursed silently once again when Gemini slowly pulled off the towel he had wrapped around his waist.

“Of course, I had to ask...” he muttered with dark regret and shook his head. “I really gotta go...!”

He walked away after catching another smile and a blink-like rise of the perfect eyelashes.

...He started the engine and sat still for a bit, forcing himself to concentrate on arpeggios and seventh chords of various keys, remembering the correct fingerings for every single one of them. That trick would work for him ever since he was sixteen – whenever he was aroused to the point that it would look obscene, he didn’t have to think of cricket or soccer to calm down his body. Figuring out fingerings for the seventh chords in every single key of the circle of fifths would do the trick perfectly.

He was in E-flat Minor when he finally nodded to himself, took a deep breath, and threw the car in gear.

**** 

Leon arrived to the cafe where he was meeting Stratos, almost forty five minutes earlier than he was supposed to – he had to stop by the library, which happened to be just two blocks away, and he didn’t expect to find what he needed so quickly. When he left the library, he headed towards the cafe, figuring that he would simply wait there instead of driving around. He hated driving in the snow.

He bought himself a cup of coffee and was sitting by the table, slowly sipping his drink, and absent-mindedly looking outside, his mind wondering. He wasn’t a single bit surprised that Stratos hasn’t called him until this afternoon – he knew that his friend was perfectly aware of Leon’s cooling period; he had learned it the hard way a few years ago. He knew that Stratos was perfectly aware that if he spoke to his manager too soon, he would have to deal with hellish consequences.

Leon hemmed to himself without looking away from the window when he remembered Stratos’ cautious voice on the phone a few hours earlier. He was tempted to throw a fit and hang up on him, but at the last second, he sighed and gloomily said, ‘Hey...’ instead.

The cafe that Stratos chose for their meeting was one of Leon’s favorites – Stratos was perfectly aware of that as well. Leon let out a tiny smile, thinking that this part he actually liked. He knew that for the next few days Stratos would kiss up to him like there was no tomorrow; he would do pretty much anything to get Leon to forgive him for being a complete ungrateful ass on Friday night.

“Oh, the possibilities...” he muttered and drank more coffee.

He kept looking outside, scanning through different scenarios in his head, and watching some heavyset guy sitting down on one of the chairs underneath sturdy blue umbrellas that protected it from snow, and lighting up a cigarette. He watched the guy for a minute or so, and suddenly, he had a strangely strong craving for a cigarette. He used to smoke, but he quit four years ago when he got involved with Stratos, knowing that the musician couldn’t stand the smell of tobacco.

When Stratos dumped him, Leon almost started smoking again, but then he figured that he managed to go cigarette-free for six months straight, and to start up the same addictive habit would be simply idiotic, stress or not. He was surprised when he didn’t have nightmarish withdrawals as he thought (dreaded) he would. He would experience a weak craving here and there, but it was nothing he couldn’t handle.

He watched the guy for another minute, slightly frowning at the strong desire that hit him so unexpectedly hard four years after he quit, and finally, he shrugged to himself, set his cup on the table, and got up, leaving his jacket on the back of the chair – a clear indication that he would be back, so they wouldn’t lose their table. It was Sunday afternoon, and the cafe was full; he really didn’t want to wait for another group of people to leave so they could get to their seats.

He walked outside and slightly shivered from snowy cold, but shrugged it off rather quickly, and walked towards the heavyset guy, who looked up at him with mild curiosity.

“Would it be all right if I bothered you for a cigarette?” Leon asked with a disarming smile – he knew how to work his smile; he hasn’t met anyone so far who would say ‘No’ to him after he would demonstrate it.

The heavyset guy let out short laughter, and said the expected:

“Help yourself,” after handing him the pack.

Leon flashed another smile and pulled one cigarette out of the hard pack.

“Here,” the guy handed him the lighter, and Leon nodded a quick ‘Thank you.’

He took a slow drag and half-closed his eyes. Holy hell, did it feel good...! Especially, after four years of not having any... The guy laughed again.

“Grab a chair,” he said, and Leon opened his eyes.

He thought about it for a second, and then pulled up a chair that seemed to be the driest of them all, figuring that he might as well sit down and have some light chat with the guy.

“You quit, huh?” the guy said, and Leon shot him a quick glance.

“That obvious?” he asked in a low voice, and the guy nodded, the same laughter still making his mouth twitch.

“Oh, yeah,” he said. “I know the look... Had it myself several times... When was the last time you smoked?”

“Four years ago,” Leon half-closed his eyes again, feeling his head slightly spinning from the forgotten kick of tobacco.

“Huh,” the guy said, and he sounded impressed. “The longest I ever went was fourteen months...”

Leon opened his eyes and smiled, letting out a small shrug.

“You never really quit,” he said in a low voice. “You might stop smoking, but you never really quit... You will always think about it...”

“Amen, brother,” the guy said seriously, and this time, they laughed together.

They smoked in silence for a minute, Leon enjoying his brief cigarette high, when the guy suddenly said:

“You don’t look too happy...”

Leon blinked at that and looked at him, slightly raising his eyebrow.

“...pardon my nosiness,” the guy nodded immediately.

Leon hemmed at that and looked at the almost finished cigarette in his hand.

“Yeah...” he muttered thoughtfully. “That’s probably because I am not too happy,” he said suddenly, surprising himself – usually, he wasn’t the kind to pour it out in front of complete strangers, smokers or not.

“Oh...?” the guy flicked away his finished cigarette and lit another one. “Weather blues...?” he blew a cloud of smoke out of his nostrils that immediately mixed with the cloud of warm air that emerged from his mouth.

“No,” Leon said thoughtfully, wondering why he felt like sharing something with this guy. Then he shrugged to himself. The guy was a total stranger, and Leon would probably never see him again after this shared smoke – it was a big city.

He regretfully flicked his cigarette into the pile of snow not too far away, and blinked several times when the guy immediately handed him the pack. He looked at it for a couple of seconds, and then grabbed it and pulled out another cigarette without thinking about it too much.

He lit it and stared at the glowing tip for a few seconds without saying anything. Finally, he sighed.

“I am waiting for my friend,” he said slowly. “He will be kissing up to me... A lot,” he added with a small nod, and the guy said:

“Oh...?” once again.

“Yeah,” Leon smiled and shot him a quick glance. “He has to make up for being an ass to me...” He shrugged and took a slow drag on his cigarette, making the tip glow with comforting warmth. “That’s not the reason though...” He sighed once more. “The reason is...” he continued slowly a second later. “The reason is that I know that he is obsessed with a certain kelari...” His mouth twitched involuntarily. “He has been obsessed with him for the past month, and I can’t stand it...”

“A kelari, huh...” the guy hemmed, and Leon nodded. “They are great in bed, you know...”

“So I’ve heard,” Leon replied melancholically, watching two clouds mix together again. “Have never tried though...”

“You miss out on a lot,” the guy nodded seriously. “I used to know a kelari...” He dragged on his cigarette and let out a wistful sigh. “He’s gone though...”

“Dead?” Leon frowned, and the guy shook his head.

“No,” he said. “Just gone... See...” he looked at Leon as if contemplating something for a few seconds. Finally, he sighed. “See, I used to favor this one place...” He paused and set another cloud free. “A naughty place, you know what I mean?” he raised one of his eyebrows, and Leon hemmed at that.

“I get the drift,” he nodded and didn’t hesitate this time when the guy handed him a pack after his second cigarette has finally died.

“Yeah,” the guy chuckled after he got his lighter back. “There was a kelari in that place... Gorgeous as sin... I have never seen anyone who would look even remotely close to what he looked like... Not just gorgeous,” he nodded after a quick drag. “Flexible as hell, and talented as the devil himself... I mean, things he could do with both of his holes...” He let out another wistful sigh. “I couldn’t get enough of him... Would go to that place four times a week...” He let out short laughter. “Used a credit card once,” he said in a low voice. “Had a bitch of a time trying to explain to my mate what the hell I was doing in a place called Sin Heaven after the bill arrived...” he laughed again, and Leon stared at him without blinking. “Was worth it though,” the guy nodded, and Leon slowly lowered his cigarette-holding hand.

“Wait,” he said and slightly narrowed his eyes. “Sin Heaven...?”

“Yeah,” the guy glanced at him above his flickering lighter. “Heard of it...?”

“I might have...” Leon said slowly. “How many kelari do they have there?”

“He was the only one,” the guy sighed and leaned on the back of the chair. “He disappeared about a month ago... Have no clue what happened to him... Pity though,” he sighed yet again. “I keep checking every week; he’s not there anymore... His owner won’t tell me where he is...” he grimaced, and Leon blinked at that.

“His owner?” he repeated.

“Yeah,” the guy nodded. “He runs the place... Tried to replace him for me, but nobody gets anywhere close...!”

“What was his name?” Leon leaned on the cold table with both elbows, and the guy let out an amused, short laughter.

“Name?” he repeated. “How in hell would I know his name? And why would I, for that matter? A whore is a whore, no matter how talented it is...”

“Right,” Leon muttered, and his head was spinning. The cigarette wasn’t the one to blame this time, he knew that. The odds, he thought, and looked up again. “So, tell me about him...”

The guy let out another sigh.

“He was amazing,” he said simply, and suddenly, he chuckled. “Was ironic though...” he said in a low voice, and Leon frowned at that.

“Ironic?” he repeated, and the guy nodded.

“Yeah... All the things he could do...” he paused for a second. “Things he could do...” he continued. “...and the kid was completely asexual... Ironic,” he said again with a small shrug.

“Really...?” Leon said very slowly, and received another laughter mixed with a sigh this time.

“Yeah... No matter how much you would try to pound his brains out, he wouldn’t get even semi-hard...”

“Really...” Leon muttered again, and then he thought of something. “He would fake though, right? I mean, he’d be loud...?”

“Sure,” the guy snorted. “He’d be loud...”

Leon hemmed and grabbed another cigarette out of the pack without being offered this time. The guy didn’t seem to care.

“...if you call this chair loud,” he finished, and Leon almost dropped the lighter that the guy handed to him.

“What do you mean?” he asked after managing not to drop anything.

“Actually...” The guy looked at his chair rather thoughtfully. “This chair might produce more sounds than he ever did...” He chuckled at Leon’s look, and then his expression suddenly changed. Now it was darker. “Actually...” he said again. “That was the only thing about him that drove me nuts... Sometimes, I could’ve sworn that he was mute, except I knew better...”

“What do you mean?” Leon repeated, and received another cloudy sigh in response.

“The little bastard would be completely silent every goddamn time,” the guy said in a low voice. “No matter what you did to him – he wouldn’t even moan... I remember one time...” He hemmed and took another quick drag. “I had a hell of a day... Troubles at work, got into a screaming match with my mate, everything felt like it was turning to utter shit... So I went there, thinking that the only thing that would make me feel better would be to fuck that kelari into oblivion...”

He paused for a few seconds.

“Well,” he continued finally. “When I got there, I wanted to hear him... I mean, I wanted to hear at least something... A scream, a moan, some lousy ‘please’ – anything...! That little bastard wouldn’t make a single sound,” he said slowly, his expression dark again. “That was when I lost it...” he nodded as slowly. “Oh, man, did I lose it...! I beat the hell out of him... I made him cry blood...”

Leon frowned at that.

“He passed out eventually,” the guy continued meanwhile. “I guess I would’ve killed him if his owner didn’t walk in,” he shrugged and flicked his cigarette away. He slightly leaned forward. “But until he passed out...” he said in a low voice. “...that little shit hadn’t made a single goddamn sound...! Was dead-silent...” He leaned onto the back of his chair again. “I ended up paying a hell of a fee that night,” he said thoughtfully, and suddenly, he grinned. “Was completely worth it though...! Every single florin – was completely worth it...!”

“I bet,” Leon said mechanically, his eyes fixed on the lighter in the middle of the table. Stratos had better never hear about this, he thought. Because if he ever does...

“You will be dead, buddy,” he nodded to himself, immediately remembering Stratos’ expression that one Sunday night when he said, ‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you,’ and a sudden, furious slam of the piano lid a few days ago when Leon couldn’t stop himself from pushing too far. Stratos had never been this way; with Gemini though, he’s been completely different. If he ever heard this story, he wouldn’t hesitate even for a second before...

“Finding you and sending you to hell,” he thought without hearing what the guy kept saying.

He looked at the half-finished, still alive cigarette in his hand, and suddenly, he didn’t want to smoke anymore. He stabbed the cigarette on the edge of the table and flicked it away.

“I gotta go,” he said, and the guy slightly stuttered, clearly not expecting being interrupted. “Thanks for the smokes!”

“No problem...” the guys nodded, and all of a sudden, his mouth stretched in a sly smile. “Find yourself a kelari,” he said in a low voice. “Don’t fret about the price... Trust me, it’ll be worth it...!”

“Right,” Leon nodded and stood up, pushing the chair aside. “Take care...!”

The guy was saying something else, but Leon ignored that and went back inside the cafe. His mouth twisted into an irritated line when he saw a young couple sitting at his table. He walked closer and realized that his coffee cup was gone.

“Are you blind?” he asked sharply, and the guy jerked and looked up. “Didn’t you see this?” Leon pointed at his jacket that was still hanging on the back of the chair.

“Oh...” the guy muttered without getting up. “We figured you forgot it...”

“You figured, huh...” Leon said darkly, feeling strangely angry. “Well, next time, don’t just ‘figure,’ buddy, because it might cost you some teeth...! Get out of here!”

“Hey...!” the guy started saying heatedly, when the girl next to him looked at Leon’s face, blinked rapidly, and grabbed the guy’s hand, quickly whispering something into his ear.

The guy blinked, looked up, blinked again, and then stood up without letting go of the girl’s hand.

“Enjoy your coffee...” he muttered darkly, walking away from the table, and Leon snorted at that.

“I would,” he nodded. “Except you sent it away, dipshit...!”

He watched the guy’s posture tense for a few seconds, and hemmed when he saw the girl’s grasp tighten on her boyfriend’s hand while she hurriedly led him away. He sighed and sat down on the chair that he abandoned fifteen minutes ago, and glanced up when he felt a slight movement.

“Here,” the waitress handed him a cup full of fresh coffee. “Sorry about that...” she nodded cautiously, and Leon sighed and took the cup.

“Uh huh,” was all he said before turning towards the window again.

The waitress stood next to the table for the next several seconds, and then she left without saying anything else.

Leon looked outside, noting that the heavyset guy was gone now, and his mind kept replaying the conversation he just had. Suddenly, he had a bright flashback in his mind. A bright flashback of that Sunday night when Stratos went batshit, kicking him out of the house. He frowned when he remembered hearing only small, sharp inhales from the rigid figure in his lap that night; small, sharp inhales, and nothing else, not even a moan. He drank more coffee and frowned deeper when all of a sudden, that flashback made his stomach clench from a weird inner stab that suspiciously resembled guilty shame. He hissed something under his breath and drank more coffee without looking away from the window.

He kept staring into the darkening outside when he blinked and straightened up.

“Finally,” he muttered and set his cup on the table, briefly glancing at his watch.

It was almost fifteen minutes until Stratos was supposed to show up, and Leon felt relieved that the musician managed to come earlier, freeing Leon from the tight, unpleasant trap of those sudden, vicious flashbacks.

“Son of a bitch,” he said very softly, watching the familiar car outside to kill its headlights. “I do need to find myself a kelari...”

He sighed again and pressed his chin into his palm without taking his elbow off the table, knowing that wasn’t the right solution. In fact, it wasn’t a solution at all.