In the bar, Anas Kiter waited for his lover. It was busy for a Thirsty Thursday, assorted couples and singles hanging around the bar. Some of the men were cruising, and walked closely by Anas’ table, giving him the wink and the eye. He ignored them, or turned his head and drank the beer.
He watched the door open and in walked a man alone. He had a medium-length pointed beard, and kept his hair severely short, almost bald. He wore a leather jacket and a t-shirt with an American eagle emblazoned across it. He wore blue jeans and boots, and carried a helmet under the crook of his arm.
“Hannu,” called Anas. The new man raised his head and smiled, heading toward Anas. Anas stood up and threw his arms around the thinner man. They kissed for a long moment, and Anas held the chair out for Hannu. “How was your week?”
“Pleasant enough,” Hannu said.
Anas laughed, “You can drop the servant persona now.”
Hannu smiled, shaking his head. “My work isn’t as easy to drop off as yours is.”
“You’re always working.”
“No, my sister Meke is always working.”
The waitress came by and Hannu ordered sweet tea. Anas had never seen him drink or get drunk. But he knew what would happen to him if he did.
“Do you have the whole weekend off this time?”
“Maybe not even tonight,” he said, and looked at Anas’ hand.
Anas took Hannu’s hand and held it in his own. Hannu’s hand was dainty, unused to hard labor, not like Anas’ who dug ditches since he was twelve. Anas traced the lines of his tendons that he could see in the dim candle light thrown off from the candle on the table. “Come on, really?”
“The dreams are coming fast,” he said. “More every day.”
Anas let go of Hannu’s hand. “Set?”
“And his minions. His many minions. We’ve doubled the guards. We can do nothing when she goes with her father.”
Anas constantly heard about the Little Queen as Anas called her when he wanted to push Hannu’s buttons. Hannu worked and lived for the Little Queen, half-human, half-cat, and a vessel for a goddess, according to Hannu. Although Anas didn’t believe in such idols and often tried to make Hannu see the error of his primal belief, Hannu wouldn’t budge. It was his duty to protect the Little Queen, even at peril of his own life.
He watched the waitress place the iced tea on the table. Hannu took a long drink from it. “I’ve said too much already,” he said.
“You’re worse than a conspiracy theorist, thinking that VIPER cares about what happens in the middle of a gay bar.”
Hannu’s dark eyes flashed. “You don’t know.”
“Sometimes maybe it’s better not to?”
“Do you think I can stop the dreams? Do you think I have control over them?”
“I think if you actually got a good night’s sleep you wouldn’t have this problem.”
“So it’s a problem.”
“It’s a problem when I’m talking to you and I see that you’re trying to force yourself to keep your eyes open.”
“I can’t help it.”
“I was doing research,” he said, and whipped out his smartphone. “It’s called narcolepsy, and it’s been around for ages, but you know what causes it? Consistently interrupted sleep.”
Hannu put his hand on top of the phone. “Put it away.”
“You don’t want to be cured.”
“It’s my duty, Anas.” He got up. “I’ll be right back.”
Anas almost threw his hands up in frustration. If he didn’t care about Hannu, he wouldn’t be acting like this. He drank his beer, called for another. He received the other beer when he realized that Hannu hadn’t come back yet.
“Hell,”Anas whispered, and got up from the table. In between couples in various stages of undress and making out, he found the bathroom and went in. He could hear someone fucking in the stall, the other guy talking dirty to him to get him excited. Anas checked under the stall doors to look for shoes facing the right way.
He saw Hannu’s shoes, and he tried the door. It opened at a gentle push. With all his clothes on, sitting on the john, was Hannu, sleeping. Anas waited, his arms crossed, seething. Hannu snorted and opened his eyes. He blinked a couple of times, and sat up straight and suddenly. He looked at Anas, then looked at the floor.
The couple two stalls down bellowed out their lust, while Anas asked, “You okay?”
“Yes.” Hannu glanced at the stall door, toward the two men who panted, satiated. “Let’s get out of here.”