Cafe Noctem

by Willa Okati

  His visitor nodded. Grey chuckled. “That’s a switch. Most of the folk out there will be whooping and carrying on as if this were an old-time pow-wow, never mind that almost none of them have the People in their bloodline. I’m guessing you do…?”

  Again, a nod. The green eyes looked friendly and so did the smile, but something about the man sent an odd shiver of sensations Grey didn’t understand through him. He felt peculiarly attracted to his guest, and with Nicholas waiting for him upstairs, that wouldn’t do. Especially not now. He sternly scolded his libido and told it to behave, that he belonged to someone else and wasn’t free to go flirting wherever he felt like.

  “Well, just wait down here.” He waved one hand at the empty room. “Plain coffee is free tonight, but specialty drinks are still for sale—half-price, though. When you smell the brewing, feel free to come upstairs and grab a cup.”

  The guest nodded, not taking his eyes off Grey. Grey felt a little bit more uncomfortable, and along with the feeling came the need to get up to Nicholas as quickly as possible. “Take it easy, now,” he said, loping toward the staircase. “We’ll see you around the Celebration!”

  Taking the stairs easily, he hurried up to the top. The main café gleamed, and everything had been set up in readiness for brewing. Grey grinned, well-pleased with Nicholas’ capable handling of things. He’d reward his partner with a kiss when they met in the studio. He’d seen Nicholas’ costume. Maybe the man would even let him help lace a thing or two in place…or let him unlace them…

  All but forgetting his early arrival in the cellar, Grey ducked back into the staff room and opened the door to his private staircase. “Nicholas, I’m coming up!” he called. “Ready or not…”

  “Ready,” Nicholas’ warm voice came back at him, kindling a fire in Grey’s belly. “Still getting dressed though.”

  Good. He was right on time, then. Grey took the stairs two at a time, set on double courses—to make up to Nicholas in whatever way it took, and to see if they couldn’t steal a few intensely private moments together before coming back down to open the café proper.

  And with that, he did forget about their early guest.

  * * *

  Down in the cellar, the man in the mask drummed his fingers on the table. Who would ever have thought the legend of Sint Holo was true? It was Nicholas’ great-grandmother who told me the story, I remember that now.

  He doesn’t recognize me. I’d have thought he would.

  Perhaps there’s more magic in this mask than even I had thought.

  Jimmy sighed and shifted in his seat. I don’t know why I’m back, why Sint Holo chose me, or what I’m supposed to be doing here. But I have all the time in the world to think, and in a few minutes, I’ll get a cup of coffee to start the brain moving.

  God. It’s been months since my last cup.

  He laughed without humor, and leaned back in his chair. One thing was for certain, this would definitely be an interesting night.

  Chapter Three

  “Are you dressed? Damn, it’s dark up here. What are you…? Oh.”

  Nicholas heard Grey pull up short as he entered their apartment above the café. Their apartment. Nicholas had added his own touches to the place.

  But Jimmy still remained, didn’t he? He was there in a dream catcher hung above their beds, in an arrangement of dried flowers on the kitchen table and in a stack of CDs Grey still occasionally flipped through. What were Nicholas’ clothes, books and collection of mugs compared to those?

  “Nicholas,” Grey breathed, as if startled and confused. Nicholas looked down at the taper he’d lit, which sat on a table close by his side. Another unlit candle stood next to the first, tall and white, waxy and solid. He wasn’t surprised by Grey’s reaction. He would have felt the same way if he’d come across Grey stripped down to his skin, clad only in a warm glow and moonlight.

  “You said you were getting ready for the Celebration,” Grey said slowly, not sounding as if he minded that Nicholas wasn’t finished putting on his costume.

  “I changed my mind.” Nicholas raised one shoulder in a half-shrug. “Are you angry?”

  “Angry? God, no. Not when you… Nicholas, do you know how you look?”

  Nicholas thought he did. He’d seen himself in mirrors enough times to know he had a tight, trim ass and a shapely line to his body from head to toe, the line of his back elegantly curved. He stood nude by one window, holding an edge of the pale brown curtains in one hand, looking out at the sky above. He had deliberately positioned himself to face away from their entrance so Grey could get a good look at him when he entered.

  And, as he’d hoped, the sight had stopped Grey in his tracks.

  “You’re naked,” the man said, sounding dumbfounded. “Nicholas, my God, you’re fucking edible framed only by one candle and the moonlight from outside.”

  “Once upon a time,” Nicholas began quietly, “Father Sun and Mother Moon looked down upon two of their stars, who danced together so merrily that the People liked to watch them at night and say they must have been in love, the way they twinkled and shone.”

  “Nicholas…” Grey started. Nicholas heard him begin to move, probably toward himself.

  He kept talking, speaking in a low voice, as if he were sitting by a campfire with half a dozen children from the reservation. “These two stars were called after the animal spirits Rabbit and Mouse, to humble them. Lowly names hardly stopped them, though, from glittering and glimmering each night, paying one another homage and doing courtesy. Their love grew day by day, but as is the way with stars, one night Mouse lost his grip on the heavens and fell to earth, streaking from the sky in a cascade of light that made the People gasp to see it.”

  “Nicholas…”

  He held up a hand. “Rabbit was disconsolate, for he had loved Mouse with all his heart. With his friend and lover gone, who would he turn to?”

  “To the Deer star,” Grey said, close enough now to lay his hands on Nicholas’ shoulders. Despite himself, Nicholas shuddered and leaned into the touch. “I’ve heard this story myself, and you tell it very well for someone who looks like an outsider.”

  “Not like you,” Nicholas agreed. “Not like Jimmy.”

  “I didn’t love Jimmy because he looked like one of the Cherokee.”

  “I know.” Nicholas turned his head to the side, looking down at where Grey touched him. “The Deer star courted Rabbit, hoping to comfort him in his time of troubles. But Rabbit, all unknowing, began to fall in love with Deer. And once he had, and realized it, he was aghast with horror. How could he betray Mouse’s memory by loving again? By dancing in the cool glow of Mother Moon?”

  “Nicholas, don’t.”

  Nicholas ignored him. “The People watched this show with great interest. Rabbit would first approach, and then retreat. Deer waited patiently, glowing brighter when Rabbit came close, and dimming when he turned back. They waited to see what would happen.”

  “Then one night, the two stars glowed with the same white-hotness, and the People knew they had decided to let Mouse’s memory rest in peace.” Grey began to slowly massage Nicholas’ arms. “I know that isn’t how the real story ends, but it’s how my version does.”

  Nicholas bent his head, leaning it against one of Grey’s strong arms. He spoke into a cord of muscle, “Does it, really? And is Mouse resting in peace?”

  Grey nodded. “He was a Mouse that roared, but yes, he is.”

  Nicholas felt a kiss on the back of his scalp. “Rabbit and Deer are happy together. If you pulled back the curtain, if you could see above the lights of the city, you could watch them glowing together in the skies above.”

  “It’s just a story…”

  “Everything is a story.”

  Nicholas felt Grey kiss him again, this time moving over to one of his temples. His tongue flicked out to trace a small pattern on the shell of Nicholas’ ear, drawing a quiet moan out of him. “We’re all part of a tale. The world we live in is our frame. Everyone
else has their own stories, and we all intersect at some point. The world is full of legends and myths that come alive every day.” With his mouth, Grey seized Nicholas’ earlobe and caught it between his teeth, nipping sharply, then salving the bite with his tongue.

  “And are we glowing together?” Nicholas asked. “Do we dance in the heavens?”

  “As we do here on earth.” Grey pulled Nicholas hard against him. He reached around and took Nicholas’ cock in his hand. “Everything’s ready downstairs,” he coaxed. “We have time, if we’re quick about things…”

  Nicholas shook his head. “I don’t want quick. Not hurried, nor rushed. I want slow.”

  “There’s no time.”

  “Then when will there be time? It seems that every time we make love, you’re always rushing through the act to get to something else.”

  “You think I don’t appreciate you?”

  “No…it isn’t that.” Nicholas shivered as Grey began to slowly stroke his prick, which clearly had a mind of its own. It began to lengthen and thicken in his partner’s palm, rising to the occasion for him. “It’s that I think you appreciate…”

  “What, Nicholas?” Grey asked, mouth tickling his ear. “What do I want more than you?” He ran his thumb around the swollen head of Nicholas’s cock, circling the fat crown in slow motion, then nudged his own hard groin into the curve of Nicholas’ ass. “What could I possibly want more than this?”

  A ghost, Nicholas wanted to answer—but didn’t.

  “Come and lie down on the bed with me,” Grey wheedled.

  “You’re still dressed.”

  “I can take care of that. Go and rest your head on the pillows. Watch me as I’ve watched you. Will you do that for me?” Warm fingers caressed his cheek. “Love me, Nicholas, as I love you.”

  Nicholas’ eyes fluttered shut. After a moment he nodded, and pulled reluctantly away from his partner. He padded silently to the bed on his bare feet and lay down on his side, facing Grey, taking him in from head to toe.

  Grey’s face was unreadable as ever, but Nicholas thought he saw a heated, simmering spark in those dark eyes. Grey tugged the black shirt he wore off over his head and cast it to the side, revealing the hard muscles of his chest and stomach, bare of any hair except for a small line that disappeared beneath the band of his charcoal-colored dress pants. As Nicholas watched, Grey toed off his shoes and his hands went to his zipper.

  As he jerked the fastening open, he began to speak. “I have a story of my own to tell you,” he said, his voice taking on a cadence almost older than time. “This is the story of a holy man, a Berdache, one who loved his own sex more than the sweet flesh of the women in his tribe.”

  Nicholas shifted on his hip, watching Grey get rid of his pants and socks. When he stood gloriously naked, prick jutting out before him, he put his hands on his hips and continued. “This Berdache, named Clever Fox, had heard the story of another of his kind trapped inside a maze of thorns, asleep at the very heart.”

  A half-smile tipped up the corner of Nicholas’ mouth. “I believe I’ve heard this one before.”

  “Hush. Let me tell it in my own way.” Grey bent and crawled onto the bed, silently nudging Nicholas onto his back and pushing his legs apart. Nicholas let himself be maneuvered like a doll, waiting patiently until Grey knelt between his knees and laid his palms to rest on Nicholas’ thighs.

  “Clever Fox,” Grey went on, “determined that he would rescue the sleeping Berdache, who he had heard was called Blue Sky for the color of his eyes. The other Berdache had fallen asleep for lack of someone to love him, and Clever Fox knew that he could be the one to wake the sleeping man.”

  Grey reached for a bottle of lubricant sitting on their bedside table and clicked it open, squeezing a healthy dollop of cherry-scented gel onto his fingers. “Raise your legs,” he instructed. “Rest your feet upon the blanket—good.” He paused, gazing intently at Nicholas. “Do you know how beautiful you are to me?”

  Nicholas let his legs fall apart, baring himself to Grey’s view. He reached down and began to fondle his own cock in silent challenge. “The story,” he demanded softly. “Go on.”

  “You almost make me forget my place.”

  “Then let me remind you.” Nicholas swiped up a drop of pre-come and brought it to his mouth, tasting his own saltiness. “Clever Fox prepared himself for battle, knowing Thorn would be a tricky opponent.”

  Grey swallowed. “Yes…yes. Clever Fox armed himself with bow and arrow, with spear and with knife, with magic prepared for him by the medicine man, and…” Grey’s fingers began to stroke the lubricant into Nicholas’ hole… “Paint. He decorated himself as a warrior, even though he had no claim to that status, because he was going forth to do battle.”

  Nicholas arched underneath the touch, his mouth falling slightly open as Grey’s clever fingers manipulated the hundreds of nerves in his opening. Fingers slid inside him, working him open, making him ready. He would have been able to take Grey if he had simply coated his own cock and slid straight inside, after having made love with this man so many times, but to be treated like a prince from a fairy tale made the encounter take on an entirely different turn. From the look on Grey’s face, heavy-lidded, with lips parted, he was enjoying this as much as Nicholas.

  “Finish the story,” Nicholas prompted as Grey began to scissor his fingers. He writhed on them, unable to help himself. He felt so empty without Grey inside, but soon enough—soon enough. “What did Clever Fox do next?”

  “He went on a long journey, through woods and plains, down valleys and up mountains, across streams and over bridges, until at last he came to the maze of thorns where Blue Sky lay imprisoned, asleep.” Grey reached for the lubricant again, smiling when Nicholas moaned at the loss of the fingers inside him. “He knew then that his journey had only been the beginning. Now he was about to face the real challenge.”

  “And did he?” Nicholas asked breathlessly, watching as Grey applied shimmering slick to the fullness of his cock, the cinnamon-colored skin taking on a deep, rosy shine. “What happened next, Grey?”

  “Part your thighs further for me—yes, just that way.” Grey moved closer, lifting first one and then the other leg over his shoulders. The tip of his cock pressed against Nicholas’ stretched hole, not quite entering, not yet. “Clever Fox tried to cut down the thorns with his ax, but they were too hard.” He pushed slightly. “He tried to part the way with his spear, but the tangle was too thick.” He pushed again. “He even lit an arrow on fire and shot it through the tangle, hoping to burn the branches, but no luck.”

  With a gasp, Grey pushed inside Nicholas. He drew in a ragged, lusty breath as Nicholas did, feeling himself being stuffed to bursting with Grey’s cock. His head spun from the sensation of being fucked and from the story, as if someone were burning mesquite and sage, the scent filling his nose. Reaching up for Grey, he asked, “And what then? Tell me, Grey, what then?”

  A mix of emotions crossed Grey’s usually implacable face as he gripped Nicholas’ thighs. Nicholas grinned wickedly, knowing that all of Grey’s attention would be focused on his dick, pushed so far into Nicholas that there was no more he could take. His balls rested heavy and full against Nicholas’ ass.

  To tease him, Nicholas took hold of his own cock, beginning to pump it lazily. The muscles in his channel seized up in a series of jerks, making Grey gasp. He withdrew and said hoarsely, “Clever Fox finally called upon his magic.”

  “He did?”

  “He did. He prayed, using the words the medicine man had taught him. Begging the Sun to give him power.”

  “And what happened then, Grey?” Nicholas asked as Grey pushed in again with a groan. “Tell me.”

  “He…he saw the thorns crumble, as if they were powder… Ah, God, Nicholas… God…”

  Nicholas grasped at Grey with one damp palm. “Finish the story,” he ordered in a low voice. “Finish it, and then fuck me through the mattress.”

  Grey shook his head ha
rd, resting fully inside Nicholas’ body. “He…he was surprised by how well the medicine worked. Magic was more…more powerful than a sharp edge or a keen point. He…aah…once the thorns were nothing but dust, he found a path inside.”

  Nicholas tightened his legs around Grey’s back. “What then?” he asked, rolling his hips. “What then?”

  “He followed the path. Nicholas, please.”

  “Finish the story.” Nicholas gazed at Grey with eyes he knew were shining with the lust he felt. He undulated, relishing the feel of the long, thick cock buried inside him, and the way Grey’s muscles trembled from holding back. “Go ahead. I want to hear the rest.”

  “After—”

  “No,” Nicholas insisted. “Now.”

  Grey gave a deep, ragged breath, and went on. “Clever Fox made his way to the heart of the maze and found Blue Sky there, asleep on a soft bed of furs made from the deer and the otter. He was so…so beautiful that he took Fox’s breath…took Fox’s breath away.”

  “And then?” Nicholas pushed. “What then?”

  “Then he remembered the medicine again,” Grey whispered hoarsely. “And instead of shaking Blue Sky awake, he bent to kiss the man…”

  “And Blue Sky opened his eyes,” Nicholas finished.

  “He did. And the two fell in love right there on the spot, and for the love of God, Nicholas, please let me fuck you now.”

  Nicholas pulled at his own cock. “Go ahead. No one’s stopping you.” He let his eyelids droop. “I want you, Grey. I need you.”

  “Thank you,” Grey murmured, and bent Nicholas almost double leaning over to press a searing-hot kiss of his own to Nicholas’ mouth. In moving, he seemed to grow inside Nicholas, turning the pure pleasure into a burn, but a good one. Nicholas gasped into Grey’s mouth, tasting his partner’s tongue, catching the last remnants of coffee and the full flavor of desire.

  He began to beg. “Now. Hard and fast and now.”

  Grey didn’t answer in words, but in actions, wasting no time. His hips snapped backwards and forwards, driving his cock deep inside Nicholas’ eager body. Nicholas found the rhythm and began to pull at his own prick in time, almost imagining he could hear the drumbeats of a tribal circle. There was magic in the air that night—he could feel the enchantment in the air.