Double Take (3 page)

"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 wanted. "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."

Teka nodded. "Same time tomorrow night?"

"You'll be here?" asked Hasani.

"I will."

"Then I'll see you then."

*~*~*

Hasani wasn't in Teka's lab the next day. As far as Teka knew, he had never missed a day before, and it worried xem quite a bit more than it ought to.

"Is he sick?" xe asked Hasani's substitute, a plump woman with thick dark eyebrows that seemed to bore into Teka's soul.

"I know as much as you," she told Teka. "All I know is that he requested a substitute for his labs today, and I'm it. If you are his friend and worried about him, you may go by his room later today to enquire as to his health. As for now, please continue your lab work."

But Teka didn't know where Hasani's room was. "I wonder if I could look it up in the records," xe said to Maek, who just shook her head.

"I'm reasonably certain he's not dying," she said with a laugh. "Are you worried about his health, really? Or just that you might not get laid tonight?"

"I am appalled, Maek. I am appalled that you would think that."

Maek just laughed and went back to comparing corrupt human kidneys to healthy flesh ones. Teka sighed and rested xyr head on xyr fist, staring at xyr page of notes, uninspired. "I suppose if he was dead, we'd hear about it."

"You are so morbid."

"Well, once one of my classmates dissected an infested rat and he was sick for days afterwards. He almost died."

"Why would Hasani have dissected an infected rat?"

"What if he's avoiding me? What if he's changed his mind?"

"Teka..."

"I know, I'm being annoying. I'm sorry, Maek. I get this way about boys." That was true. Teka didn't want to be one of those people who sacrificed their work for their lover. There was a reason magical scientists were stereotyped as loners. Magic wasn't a hobby, it was Teka's life, and damned if xe was going to let anything else get in the way of it. What would Teka's father think? "If Hasani decides he doesn't like me, it certainly won't be the end of the world."

"Ah, but you like him," said Maek, her face finally cracking into a smile. She nudged Teka. "And I think he likes you too. You know how I know?"

Teka looked up at Maek, curious. "How?"

"Remember when we met during initiation?"

Teka did remember. Maek had taken a liking to Teka immediately, and requested that they be roomed together. Teka had been alone, foreign and afraid that no one would like xem or be the least bit interested in rooming with xem. Maek had been a ray of light. "I was getting a drink, and Hasani came up to me—I didn't know it was him then, I hadn't met him yet, but he asked me your name and who you were."

"You never told me this!" Teka squeaked. "Maek, how could you? What did you tell him?"

"I told him you were a god in human form, sent to study amongst the mortals, and that if he ever harassed or hurt you, I would tear his balls off."

"Maek!" Teka dropped xyr head to the table in defeat.

Maek laughed. "Well, he seemed like a bit of a scoundrel to me. I didn't want anyone harassing you because you were foreign or different."

"I don't think he wanted to harass me," said Teka, and Maek giggled.

"Yes, I see that I was wrong now. But don't worry so much. I'm certain everything will work out. Just be patient."

"Right." Teka lifted xyr pen. "Patient. I can do that."

*~*~*

Teka had almost given up waiting for Hasani in the library when he finally appeared around one of the bookshelves, looking harangued.

"Oh, good!" Teka exclaimed, standing up. "I was worried about you!"

"I'm sorry I'm so late." He sighed. "I got into it with my roommate twice today."

"Are you alright?" asked Teka. "Are you sick?"

"Do I look that bad?" asked Hasani with a small smile. He didn't look sick, just a bit tired and downtrodden, his shoulders slumped and his eyes downcast. He had his flute, but was letting it hang heavily from his fingers instead of playing with it as he usually did. "I'm sorry, I tried to ask him this morning if he would mind if I had someone over. We had a row about it, and I've been out of sorts all day. He did leave tonight, so we can go back to my room now if you like."

Teka felt guilty. Xe didn't like that xe had caused a rift between Hasani and his roommate. Although xe remembered Hasani mentioning that they didn't get along in the first place. "I don't want to cause trouble."

"It's not your fault, not at all," Hasani reassured xem. "We haven't been talking. I tried to ask him nicely and he blew up in my face."

"I'm sorry," said Teka.

"Don't be." Hasani seemed to have to force the warm smile back onto his face, but once he did, it was obviously genuine. His face lit up and he looked much happier, even a little sexy. "I think you can cheer me up."

*~*~*

Hasani's room was in the Graduate's Wing. It was bigger than Teka's and better furnished. The beds looked softer, the white linen fabric trimmed with gold and the ceiling high and vaulted. It was still only one room though, and Hasani's things were intermixed with his roommates. Teka spotted a desk full of notes, as well as a music stand and some instruments.

"What do you play?" xe asked.

Hasani listed off a string of instruments, only a few recognizable to Teka. Hasani was full of surprises too, it seemed. "My father doesn't like me pursuing it, of course," he continued with a laugh. "He'd rather I spent my time on magical science and research."