Double Take

by J. K. Pendragon

  "Probably," said Teka, a little short of breath. "I'm here often to read. I'll listen for your flute."

  "I'd like that." Hasani gave a little, irreverent bow and spun the flute around in his hand. Teka was once again struck by how different he seemed, but then, xe had never met him outside the classroom before. Xe liked him this way, so casual and confident. "Goodnight, Teka."

  "Goodnight."

  *~*~*

  "What were you doing out so late? You know, Jays and I were asleep by midnight."

  "I wanted to be sure I didn't interrupt you." Teka rubbed xyr eyes, forcing xemself to focus on the page of research in front of xem. "Mm." Xe smiled. "Besides, I met Hasani in the library courtyard last night."

  "What?" Maek sat up from where she had been lounging on her bed, having woken up early to finish her schoolwork while Teka slept. "What was he doing there?"

  "Playing the ney," laughed Teka. "I know, I didn't know he played either."

  "What was he like?" asked Maek. "Was he less..." She straightened up and set her jaw in a harsh line, screwing her eyes so tight that they were almost shut. "Undergraduate Mesfin, why haven't you finished your assignment?"

  Teka snorted with laughter at Maek's surprisingly accurate impersonation. "No, he wasn't like that at all, he was... completely different. I guess I should have expected so, the professors here are all so strict."

  "Why, what are they like in D'mt?"

  Teka was about to reply when there was a knock on the door. Teka glanced up from xyr desk, and then at Maek, who shrugged. "I'm not expecting anyone."

  Teka looked around the single room that xe and Maek shared, and wished that it was a little less cluttered with discarded clothing and stacked books before getting up and opening the door.

  Hasani stood there, his collar done up tight around his neck once again, and a stack of papers gripped in his hands. Teka recognized them as xyr notes from yesterday. "Undergraduate Mesfin," he said with a low, proper bow.

  Teka had to keep xemself from giggling. "Teka is fine, really. Are those my notes?"

  Hasani seemed to remember that he was holding them. "Oh! Yes, yes." He lifted his glasses to his face and gestured at the pages in his hands. "I've corrected your usage of terms and symbols, and written you a glossary as well. Here." He held them out to xem stiffly.

  "Oh, thank you!" said Teka, touched by Hasani's work. "I truly appreciate it. I shall endeavour to correct myself in the future."

  "See that you do," said Hasani. He cleared his throat and glanced over Teka's shoulder at Maek. Teka glanced back as well, in time to see Maek shoving her nose into a reference book. "Well, I thought about your offer yesterday," Hasani continued. "And I wanted to confirm that you were, in fact, asking me... on..."

  "A date?" finished Teka. "Yes, I was."

  "Oh good," said Hasani, and he swallowed again. It really was adorable. "You can understand how I might have felt very awkward had I misunderstood."

  "Of course," said Teka. Xe wanted to say something else, but couldn't think of anything under the circumstances. What was Hasani's answer?

  "Well, in that case..." Hasani looked at the ground. He shuffled his feet, and looked back up at Teka. "Are you free after our lab today? I thought we might go to the coffee house down the street. They have lovely cakes and—"

  "Yes, that sounds nice."

  "Ah, well, good!" said Hasani, sounding surprised. A small smile crossed his lips, a hint of the one Teka had seen last night. "I shall see you in class today then, Undergraduate Mesfin."

  "Teka really is fine," said Teka again, but xe could feel xemself smiling as well. Goodness, xe was acting like a teenager! Xe hadn't been this excited about a date in ages. Of course, xe hadn't been on a date in ages.

  Hasani shut the door with another small smile, and Teka turned to squeal at Maek. "Coffee!"

  "You don't like coffee," said Maek, setting the book down on her lap with a humorous look.

  "For Hasani, I would drink lamp oil. Maek, I am going for coffee with Graduate Hasani!"

  "Yes, yes, I heard!" Maek laughed at Teka, and set down her book. "I suppose you'd like me to help you get done up for your date?"

  "Oh, would you? I don't know anything about make-up."

  "Typical bio-magician," laughed Maek, standing up and walking to her dresser. "You know everything about making the body up, and nothing about making yourself up."

  "I have good hair," Teka responded with a pout.

  "Which is a good thing, because I can't help you with that." Maek wore her hair buzzed short, almost as short as Hasani's. Nothing to detract from the beautiful, sculpted angles of the face. "You're lucky you have good skin too, because my powder would not suit you. But here's some eye kohl." She approached Teka, turning the lamp that Teka had been working by to shine on xyr face. "You have such lovely skin. I wish I was dark like you."

  Teka closed xyr eyes, trying hard not to flinch as Maek applied the kohl. "I'm going to look silly, all made up for the lab."

  "It won't be too noticeable," Maek reassured xem. "Your skin is so dark, the black is just an accent. There, come look in the mirror."

  Teka followed Maek over to her dressing table to look in the tall, gilded mirror there. Xe blinked, leaning forward to fix xyr hair. "I look like I'm from Kemet," xe laughed. "I could be in one of your old wall paintings."

  "Not with that hair," Maek replied, smiling.

  "You don't think I look too much like a girl, do you?" Teka asked, worried. In D'mt, only the girls bothered with make-up. Teka, read as female more often than male, didn't like to tip the scales in that direction too much. But xe did so like being pretty.

  "Not at all!" Maek reassured xem. "All the men here wear make-up, haven't you noticed? I think even Hasani does."

  "He would never!" gasped Teka. "Do you think?"

  "I don't think he gets those cheekbones naturally," said Maek with a laugh. "I bet you he's much more of a peacock than he lets on."

  Teka remembered the way Hasani had smiled at xem last night, the confident way he had leaned against the fountain and then bowed to xem. "Maybe you're right. Maybe."

  *~*~*

  "You're so... professional, in class."

  "Professional?" Hasani sipped his drink, looking at Teka over the rim of his cup with a confused expression. "Well, yes, of course, I am a professional."

  Teka smiled and took a sip of xyr own drink. It had turned out that neither of them liked coffee, and they had both ordered warm honeyed milk instead. "I know, and I know your work is important to you, but it's just odd to see the difference. You didn't even look at me once in the lab today."

  "Well..." Hasani rolled his eyes and looked away, drumming his fingers on the side of his cup. "If you must know, that was because I was nervous for our date."

  "Are you still?" asked Teka, leaning forward to catch Hasani's eye. "Nervous?"

  "No, not as much. You're very relaxing, you know. And..." he sighed, blowing on his drink to cool it. "I do know what you mean by my being professional. I suppose it's just that I am under a lot of pressure. I'm studying to be a professor, you know, and I want very badly to impress upon my superiors that I am capable of the strict guidance expected of an educator."

  "It must be hard though," said Teka. "Being so perfect all the time."

  "Are you suggesting my perfection doesn't come naturally?" Hasani's face broke into that warm smile and Teka laughed.

  "No, no, not at all. Just that you shouldn't give up your own happiness simply to impress others."

  "Ah." Hasani took another drink and cast his eyes down to the table. It was ebony, the same as the one in the office where Hasani worked. "I find that others often know what's best for me. It's not that I haven't attempted to forge my own path, but it did not end particularly well."

  "Why?" Teka leaned forward again, glad that the spot they had chosen was private. Their table was on the second story of the coffee house, overlooking the university grounds and the city beyond. They were
high enough that no one below could hear their conversation, their table divided from the others by tall, carved ebony booths, so Teka felt comfortable asking. "Were you a rebel in your younger years?"

  Hasani grimaced. "In a manner of speaking. Not the sort that makes a good story. My father had very strict plans for me, and I was intent on breaking them. I refused to go to college for a few years, and I had—" he paused, "—a sort of... dalliance with a relative."

  "Is that bad?" asked Teka. "I thought that kind of thing was acceptable in Kemet."

  "It is, to a point," said Hasani. He glanced at Teka with a small smile. "I'm aware that Kemet has an exaggerated reputation as far as incest goes."

  "Well, yes," said Teka, laughing. When people thought of Kemet, they thought of wealth, history, and incest. Many of the people back home in D'mt had very negative opinions on the practice, but most were, in Teka's opinion, uneducated on Kemet's laws. Inbreeding was illegal, and Kemet's excellent medical system meant unplanned pregnancies were a thing of the past. "I did try to research the fact before I came here. I know not everyone does it, but it is quite common among nobility, isn't it?"

  "It's complicated," said Hasani. "Some consider it antiquated, others elitist. It's common amongst nobility, and among the common people, but my family isn't nobility, just wealthy. We're expected to marry well and rise in ranks, not..."

  "Have dalliances with relatives," Teka finished for him. "So you broke it off with your relative and went to study magical science, instead."

  "Yes." Hasani nodded and took another sip of his drink, looking distressed. "He was heartbroken, of course."

  "And you?"

  "I..." Hasani was quiet for a long moment, "… do not regret my choice. I'm very happy in the field of magical science, as my father knew I would be."

  "What about marriage?" asked Teka, xyr heart sinking a little. "Are you set to marry some rich lord or lady?"

  "No." Hasani shook his head. "Call it a little leftover defiance. I've told my father that I shall choose my own spouse, when the time comes."

  "But not your relative?"

  "He doesn't speak to me anymore." Hasani sighed. "I doubt he wants anything to do with me, after how I treated him."

  "I'm sorry." Teka couldn't help but feel a little upset. Was Hasani even over his old flame? Perhaps xe shouldn't be getting involved with a man who was still in love with someone else.

  "Don't be sorry, it's all in the past." Hasani was staring at xem. "Teka. It is. It was very rude of me to even bring him up. I promise, it is a closed chapter of my life."

  "Are you certain of that?"

  Hasani reached across the table and took Teka's hand in his. "Yes. I am so sorry if I've frightened you away, or turned you off of me. My level of distress at the thought should give you some insight into how interested I am in you."

  Teka couldn't help but smile. "Do you construct such complex sentences in your head before you say them? Or do they just flow out naturally?"

  "I... I'm not sure what you mean."

  "Never mind." Teka chuckled. "Alright, I'll accept that you're interested in me. Should we order dinner as well?"

  Hasani looked relieved. Teka loved how evident his feelings were on his face. Xe wondered if he realized.

  *~*~*

  "I didn't expect to find you here tonight."

  Teka looked up from xyr book, surprised to see Hasani peering around the corner of a bookshelf. It was late, and xe'd been reading for several hours already. Xe hadn't expected to see Hasani here, either. "Oh, hello! Why not?"

  "Well, you were out quite late last night, weren't you?" Hasani laughed. "Don't you sleep?"

  "Not if I can help it." Teka sat up from where xe'd been lounging on the couch, gesturing to the spot next to xem. "You can sit down, if you like."

  "I would like." Hasani sat next to Teka, balancing his flute on his lap and grinning at xem. "What book is it tonight?"

  "Oh, the same one. I'm not the best at reading. It uses big, complex sentences. Sort of like you," Teka teased.

  "Ha!" Hasani laughed. "I'm sorry about that. My father always lectured me about speaking too casually as a child. I suppose it's been ground into me."

  "What's your father like?" asked Teka. "I mean, besides controlling and strict."

  Hasani gave a dismissive laugh. "That's a pretty comprehensive description. He is..." He sighed, rolling the flute between his hands and staring into the distance. "He wants what is best for me, I suppose, but he doesn't know what that is, not really. He causes me more pain than happiness."

  "I'm sorry," said Teka. "At least you know he does it out of love, and not spite."

  "Ha. Right." Hasani rolled his eyes and pursed his lips in a small, frustrated smile. "It is hard to remember that sometimes. But, you know, he is from a different time. My grandfather worked under the pharaoh, as our line did all the way back. So my father was trained to be an attendant, and when the regime was overthrown, I don't know if he knew what to with himself. He didn't know any other way to raise us."

  "You have siblings?"

  Hasani shrugged. "Yes, a brother and two sisters. And you?"

  Teka shook xyr head. "Just me and my father. We are close. He was young when my mother died, and he was left to raise me."

  "Does he approve of your..." Hasani trailed off, but Teka knew what he was asking.

  "Not at first. But I suppose when I broke into his equipment and used it to alter my body, he saw how serious I was about it."

  Hasani laughed, but he was also looking at Teka interestedly. "Were you scared? When you did it?"

  Teka thought about it. Remembered the months of secret planning and study. The moment xe had broken into the storage room, found xyr father's old instruments, disused since his college days. The wild rush of power xe'd always felt within, harnessed for the first time by those instruments. "No. Just excited."

  "And you are happy now?" Hasani leaned forward a little. Teka wasn't even sure he was aware he was doing it.

  "Yes," said Teka, breathless from Hasani's sudden closeness. Hasani was perfect up close, his lips soft and smooth, a shade darker than his skin, and those lovely almond-shaped eyes. There was a glint of gold in the centre of his irises, and Teka could see that he was indeed wearing a bit of make-up, just in the corners of his eyes. Hasani leaned over a little more, so that his arm brushed against xyr thigh. He was doing it on purpose now, Teka was sure. Xe could feel Hasani's arm pressing into xyr leg as he leaned closer, and his breath on xyr mouth. His breath smelled of wood from his flute.

  Hasani leaned ever closer, and Teka thought he was going to kiss xem, until he leaned back again and placed his hand on his lap. "I'm sorry," he said with a small smile. "We've only just met, that was inappropriate."

  "Hasani." Teka reached forward and touched a hand to Hasani's cheek. His skin was soft under xyr hand, only the lightest dusting of stubble. "Restraint doesn't suit you."

  "Doesn't it?" he said, looking up at xem with bright eyes. "You've no idea how I've longed to hear that."

  "It's true," said Teka, excitement and happiness bubbling up in xyr chest. "If you were planning to kiss me a few seconds ago, I want you to do it."

  Hasani didn't need to be told twice. He lunged forward, pressing his lips to Teka's. The flute clattered to the stone floor, forgotten as his hands grasped xyr shoulders. The sensation shot all the way through Teka like fire in xyr veins as Hasani kissed xem, full soft lips pressing and teasing. Hasani's lips parted and his tongue brushed across Teka's own lips, and up into xyr mouth.

  Teka gasped as Hasani nipped at xyr lips, first the bottom and then the top, and then his hand was on xyr thigh, sliding slowly upwards. "Oh, fuck..." whispered Teka without thinking, but Hasani just grinned at xem. He touched his other hand to Teka's face and pulled xyr chin up to kiss xem more deeply.

  Teka's cock was hard, and xe could feel hot wetness between xyr legs. Xe wanted Hasani, and the way things were going, it seemed like xe was going to get what xe wa
nted. "Hasani," xe whispered, breaking away to press xyr lips to his ear. "We shouldn't do this here."

  Hasani's hand stopped its slow ascent up Teka's thigh, much to the protests of Teka's body. "You're right," he whispered. "I don't suppose you want to come to my room—agh, my roommate is there."

  "Kick him out?" Teka suggested, going in for another kiss, which Hasani enthusiastically returned.

  "I don't want to do that," said Hasani with a grimace. "Just... can I just... I want to touch you." His hands were roaming again, sliding up Teka's thigh. Teka's robe was shoved to the sides, Hasani's hands on the soft fabric of xyr trousers. He hesitated as he reached xyr upper thigh, but Teka grabbed his hand and dragged it higher, so that the palm of his hand passed over xyr erection.

  "Oh!" Hasani's hand froze for a second, then pressed forward again to rub heavily. "I must admit I wasn't expecting that."

  "I am full of surprises." Teka grinned, feeling mischievous. Xe was almost overflowing with lust. Xe wanted to give xemself to Hasani right there in the library. But that was definitely against the rules.

  "Mm..." Hasani groaned into Teka's neck, his palm rubbing and fondling xyr cock through the soft silk of xyr trousers. It was making it incredibly difficult to think. "I'll talk to my... roommate tomorrow," Hasani whispered, nipping the sensitive skin at the base of Teka's neck. "Ask him if I can have the room to myself."

  "Tomorrow?" whimpered Teka. Xe wanted Hasani right now, not tomorrow. But waking Maek up would be unspeakably rude, even if she did owe Teka. It was hard to think about things like rudeness when Hasani's hand was between xyr legs, palming xyr cock like that. "I don't want to wait until tomorrow," xe whined.

  "I will make it worth the wait," said Hasani, and Teka laughed.

  "Alright," xe whispered. "Hasani, I'll wait for tomorrow night, but you have to stop touching me right now, or I will end up fucking you right here and now."

  Hasani's eyes burned with desire from that, and he released his hold on Teka's cock, but the way he kissed Teka was hardly better. Teka didn't know how xe was going to manage to walk straight back to xyr room.

  "I had better go," said Hasani. "Before I lose all my resolve."