Scene remix: Ergo and the night of the Livonian sauna (552 words)

[faxpunk]

 

Ergo Kask, an Aest of Kure, looks over the senior constable in the shower. The man turns away from him, but his body remains on display. Tall, full of angle and taut muscle. The curve of the bicep, the ass. His eyes linger, how could they not.

Maybe the list needed revising, he thinks to himself.

The list was originally invented by his father, the pitiful drunk. "Why do we run scams, son?" He looked at Ergo, through the haze of alcohol and smoke, pointing the red end of the burning cigarette at him. "Money, money, money," he added, answering his own question.

When Ergo's first solo scam made it onto the front page of Tartu Õhtuleht, under the headline <i>Charming crook scams money from former nobles</i>, his father slapped him on the ears. "Infamy is not what we want."

But Ergo's list is different. Money is easy to come by. Infamy is harder. Pride in his own work often came high on the list, and then there were the laughs. 

The amber job is a bit of everything. The pride of pulling off something this big and specific is one thing, the infamy he will gain is a prize in itself. Fooling the constabulary is a laugh. Money is just there for the escape. The accomplice is a wrinkle of his own making, a bit of extra thrill and spice. Can he not get caught, working alongside the very man trying to catch him? The thought of it excites him.

But he didn't expect to like the unwilling accomplice this much. Did not expect that the taciturn, unconventional constable to be the most handsome man in Haem.  His satisfyingly gravelly voice. His deep set eyes. The mouthwatering angles of his body.

So add sex to the list. Push it to the top of the list, Ergo thinks, pats the seat to his right in the sauna. "Sit next to me."

Knowing that Konstantin hears the phrase as, "Come sit on my cock."

Konstantin would, probably, after some initial reluctance. But whatever comes easy is not worth pursuing. The constable doesn't bend easily, and that's exciting, too.

The constable's flat is lonely. Ergo feels it in his depth. All of his flats have been lonely, too, but out of necessity. The job comes first. He's grown tired of it, and the accomplice idea came out of that unwelcome loneliness. Just someone to be around, even if it's not genuine friendship. For that purpose, he has grown fond of Konstantin. His dry humour, his rare smile, his moral rigour, absurd though it seems to Ergo. 

The idea comes to him, sleeping on the sofa that night. Flirting is easy. Bedding the constable is a lot less easy, but achievable. 

Love, that's impossible. He is set to ruin this man's life, burn it down completely. But then, neither of them would be lonely anymore. Could he make the sacrifice of everything else worth it? Would he be worthy of such love in the first place?

Ergo wakes and Konstantin remains asleep. How easy might it be to slide next to him, kiss him awake and see if he resisted at all. But Ergo does not. Instead, he leaves the flat, smiling to himself.

The new list. Love, sex, money. In that order.