Chapter 21 Tranquility, Where Art Thou?
TRANQUILITY, WHERE ART THOU?
George didn’t waste any time. He ushered Andi into their room and toward the bathroom. “Get naked and take a hot shower. I’ll prepare everything for a little meditation. Then we’re going to order room service and cuddle the stress out of you.”
Andi started undressing. “You’re so good to me.” His tone was just this side of sarcastic, which cemented how exhausted he had to be. If there had been more life in his lover, Andi would have been a lot more outspoken.
“I know. Now get your pasty, scrawny ass into the shower.”
“I’m not that thin. You feed me well.” Andi looked down at his body.
“You’re thinner than me. Ergo, I can call you scrawny.” George didn’t like it. Even though Andi was gaining weight at a glacial pace, seeing him completely naked reminded George how far they still had to go if he wanted his lover on a healthy level.
“You’re buff. And a fitness rat.”
“Do you mean gym rat? Because that I’m definitely not. I just enjoy being fit. Plus, one could argue that’s a staple for our job.”
“Fitness rat, gym rat. It’s all the same. You train, and I don’t. Still, my solving statistics are better than yours.” Grumbling, Andi went into the bathroom and started the shower.
George grinned at the last part. Andi was waking up.
Once the water started, George looked around the hotel room.
With two beds and one sofa, not to mention the small desk with a chair, it didn’t offer much space, certainly not enough for their usual set-up, facing each other on yoga mats on the ground.
Well, they would make do with the bed they’d been sleeping in.
The other one had the flip chart sheets and pens on it, all in a haphazard jumble.
He arranged the pillows on both beds against the headboard to accommodate him leaning against them.
They would combine meditation and snuggling.
To prove that great minds indeed think alike, Andi came out of the shower with his hair still damp, a towel around his hips, and a few stray droplets running down his chest, and immediately sat down on the bed.
“Great idea,” was all he said while patting the mattress.
George grinned, got rid of his own T-shirt and trousers before he scooted up on the bed, getting comfortable so he could hold Andi’s weight when his lover leaned against him.
As soon as George opened his thighs, Andi was there, his body a warm and familiar weight against George’s front.
He put his chin on Andi’s head and his arms around him, looking to create as many points of contact as possible.
This was the easiest form of meditation for them because when their bodies were practically plastered together with little to no cloth between them, syncing wasn’t even a conscious effort anymore.
Because he could feel Andi’s breathing pattern through their upper-body contact, in addition to hearing it, falling into the same rhythm was just natural.
He closed his eyes, letting his lover take over.
Andi’s fingers made featherlight stroking motions on his thighs, adding another layer to the symphony that was them uniting on so many levels.
On and on it went, breathing and stroking and feeling, until George wasn’t sure where he ended, and Andi began.
Then his partner started to talk, taking him into his world, showing him all the wonders and horrors he couldn’t quite articulate, trying to translate as best as he could.
“Eggs, I’m so full of them, need a place to lay them, the mattress bears down on me, so many parts of me, I’m there, laying eggs and hatching and shedding my old skin and eating away on all those delicious skin cells, life is good, I’m thriving, all of me, no, caught in the web, I’m trying to break free, I can sense the prey, so close, fighting, destroying my threads, quick, sinking my fangs into the fly, venom pumping through my teeth, death, empty, there’s nothing, only for a moment, though, there’s always something else waiting in the wings, no death is ever significant because life always takes over immediately, it’s never quiet, never still, always moving and flying and burrowing and eating and killing and being born and it never ever ends and I don’t know if that’s solace or hell, anyway, I can’t escape, never, I am them and they are forever, waiting everywhere, the breeze under my wings, lifting me up, the sun is so warm, perfect, my blood is pumping faster through my wings, it’s this huge thing in the sky, I don’t really know what ‘sky’ is, endless, need to find a mate, the eggs, deep down, in the earth, shelter, safe, I wanna stay there, the sky is too vast, you’re there with me, you’re my earth, my anchor, I feel grounded, don’t stop breathing, can’t stand to lose you, so vibrant, so alive, you can’t be part of the circle, you can’t… ”
Andi was trailing off, making guttural sounds at the back of his throat, reminding George of the clicking of mandibles and the scratching of chitin, or how he thought those things should sound if only his hearing were better, he would never know, not really, he was only a guest, the house was Andi’s, but he let him come in and George was grateful.
He started stroking Andi’s sides and thighs, his lover’s hands resting heavily on his knees, keeping the contact even though he was now fully immersed in their world.
George’s old fear reared its ugly head. What if Andi decided to close the door in his face?
What if he decided that staying in this house was better, easier, more peaceful than returning to George?
But those were his fears, and they didn’t have a place here, not now, when Andi was warm and heavy in his arms, alive and connected to him.
Maybe one day he would slip through George’s fingers like dry sand in a desert.
Maybe one day all his fears would come true.
Maybe on that day, George might decide that darkness offered more peace than light.
Maybe one day, Andi would master his geschenk completely.
Maybe one day George would get shot during a case.
So many maybes and only one absolute—here, now, in this hotel room—he was with the man he loved on more levels than he ever knew existed.
And in the end, that was all that mattered.
Time went by in a trickle and a flood, the sun slowly reaching the end of her daily path, Andi slightly snoring on his chest, finally at peace, finally getting rest.
Of course, nothing that good could last forever, and the vibrations of George’s cell on the nightstand woke his lover half an hour later.
“Hnf.” For Andi, that was incredibly articulate after a nap.
George chuckled and reached for his cell. “We got an email from HappyCitizen26.”
That woke his partner up. Andi lifted his head from George’s chest. “Oh?”
“Yes. She says she’s home and we can call her anytime.”
“Should we get dressed?” Again, an astoundingly aware comment from Andi.
“T-shirts, perhaps. I’ll keep the camera angled toward our faces.”
They disentangled from each other, both putting on a T-shirt.
George’s was a deep blue, while Andi’s was a washed-out green that did his skin color no favors.
George had tried to get rid of this particular shirt only once and had met such fierce resistance from Andi that he’d since given up.
Usually, Andi was indifferent when it came to his clothing, especially when George’s meddling didn’t cause any work for himself, but he claimed this T-shirt was the comfiest one he had ever owned, and so it had to stay.
It was already thinning out around the shoulder seams, so George was positive its days were numbered. He could be patient.
Once they were both dressed, he called the FaceTime number HappyCitizen26 had sent them.
George found it a little strange that she would trust them after just one email that could have easily been faked.
He was also curious because of it. They were sitting on the bed again, Andi next to him, waiting for her to accept the call.
It didn’t take long, and the face of a kind-looking elderly lady filled the screen.
Wrinkles around her eyes and mouth told of somebody who liked to laugh, and a determined gleam in her hazel eyes explained why she had agreed to this personal contact.
Without knowing her, George could tell this was a woman who suffered no fools.
Living with his mother had taught him to recognize women with a spine of steel at first glance.
Failing to do so could reap catastrophic results. He cleared his throat.
“Good evening, Miss—?”
“HappyCitizen26 until I have seen some ID,” she brusquely told him. “Also, I’m recording this so don’t even think of trying anything.”
Andi leaned to the side to get their wallets and badges from the nightstand. After holding them close to the camera so HappyCitizen26 could scrutinize them, she nodded. “Hello, I’m Mrs. Davert. How can I help the police?”
“Hello, Mrs. Davert. Thank you for speaking with us on such short notice and on a weekend. We’re currently looking into a possible crime and came across your blog. You wrote something about an incident on the way to Paradise Home for the Elderly?”
“Oh, yes. Line 6, absolute nightmare. The connecting buses are always out of sync because there are so many construction sites on this tour. An outrage, really, how the city seems to be incapable of adjusting to accommodate these planned road works.”
Before she could go on a rant because she was clearly gearing up, George interrupted her. “Line 6. You wrote something about the bus driver not letting a passenger on?”
“Yes, yes, grumpy toad, that woman. Stubborn as a mule.”
“Do you happen to remember her name? The bus driver’s? Or perhaps that of the passenger?”