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The address Kai gave Loki leads to a rundown tenement in Hell's Kitchen. Greenwich Village may be home sweet home, but Hell's Kitchen is where Kai can afford to hang his head. A narrow stair leads to the third floor, where the door to apartment C stands at the end of the hallway. Music plays inside, so at least some miscreant is home. Probably Kai.
*
Elmo jogs right on up to the third floor. Must be nice not to weigh anything. He's got a canvas bag, probably with the promised bong. He dithers anxiously outside the door for a minute or two. Will Kai like it? Kai will probably hate it. Eventually he knocks and yells, "Kai, open up."
*
The jazz record playing stops, and Kai comes to the door, opening it wide as he says, "Elmo! Come in!" He's in pajama bottoms, in the middle of the day, and a white t-shirt. His hair's tousled, curls everywhere. Bright-eyed and smiling as ever. Does he even get tired? "Do you want a beer? I think I have another one left."
*
Elmo looks like he didn't sleep much, by way of comparison. But he's still nattily dressed. "Sure. Thanks." He comes in. "I made your bong. I tried to get some of those shapes on it like you said. Make it kind of look like a tulip? I didn't do great, but, anyway, uh," he sets the sack down and pushes it down around a sphere of anodized alumium with a flowering mouthpiece. It has a gradient of color and some swirly lines etched into it, that seem to have taken inspiration from Kai's shirt. "There she is."
*
Kai follows Elmo to where he puts down the sack, then he dives upon it, opening it up. He withdraws the bong nigh reverently. "Ooh, Elmo," he says as he turns it over in his hands. "This is far out." He brings it to his lips to test the feel of it. Then he grins. "She's beautiful. I love her." He tucks the bong in the crook of his elbow and goes rummaging for a baggie of weed. "Let's try it out."
*
Elmo cavails a bit, suddenly finding the door very interesting. "I dunno, never had it before." To kind of change the topic, he adds, "Never made anything like that before, either. Mostly I make parts for stuff. You like her?" Anxious, even though Kai just SAID he loves it.
*
Kai finds his stash, loads up the bong, and flops down on the couch. He pats the spot beside him and says, "She's perfect, the Ginchiest. Let's take her for a spin." He doesn't usually gender his bongs, but Elmo's giving him ideas. It's fun. "You need to chill out, man. Relax. A little puff of the Devil's lettuce will do you right." He lights it up, bringing the piece to his lips to take a pull. His eyes lid as he leans back, holding his breath. Then he exhales and passes it over. Then he sits up and says, "All right, here's how you do it…" He's helping. He's a helper.
*
Elmo totally gives in to peer pressure. Maybe it's that Kai is doing the pressuring. Adorable elfin guys who were yesterday fondling his hand maybe make him more pliable. His attempt results in an eye-watering bout of first-timer coughing. "Are you trying to kill me," he gets out between coughs.
*
Kai claps Elmo on the back and grins. "Everyone pays their dues," he says. Then he rubs his back. "Just hack it out. Don't take so much next time." Then he takes the bong back, and the draw he takes is truly impressive. He's strong, he's got stamina. He can take it." He does cough though as he starts to laugh. "This stuff is out of this world. Don't let it go to waste, man. Small drags."
*
Elmo sort of melts into the couch with the observation, "Tastes like brussel sprouts." He watches Kai with the interest of the rapidly-becoming-stoned. "Feels like my head is coming off. That supposed to happen?"
*
"Just let it go, man," Kai says. His features are a testament to pleasure. He snorts on a giggle, then he takes another huff. He's taking in an awful lot of the stuff. Alfheimian stamina gets expensive. He offers the bong back to Elmo. "Now, like we practiced. Slow, small draw. You'll be flying, man. You'll be floating in the cosmos."
*
Elmo protests, "Need my /head/," but accepts the bong and hesitantly tries again. It goes better this time, but he still winds up coughing some. "S'like inhaling pepper, how can you do that? You're chugging along like a /train/." He gets very interested in the heavy clouds of smoke rapidly accumulating around Kai.
*
"Practice, cat, practice." He takes the bong, sets it aside, then sprawls on the couch. He groans with pleasure, splaying a hand over his face. His shoulders shake with laughter. "It'll come back," he says, "your head always finds its way home." He takes a deep breath to collect some of that second hand before it dissipates, then he exhales slowly. He lets his head fall to the side so he can look at Elmo. "Let it happen, man. Fly with me."
*
Elmo seems only marginally able to take the bong, resting it on his knee instead of using it. He mumbles something in Yiddish, then giggles, then looks horrified, then laughs. "This is stupid and you're stupid. And I'm stupid for doing it. 'm a nice Jewish boy." Then laughs again.
*
Kai cuffs Elmo so very lightly. He knows his strength, even when he's stoned, and it's barely a brush of knuckles on Elmo's arm. "Stupid's in, don't be a nerd. Come on, relax. Be nice, Jewish boy." He giggles, slouches down so that his back is on the couch's seat and his legs are stretched out before him. One more nudge from gravity and he'll be on the floor.
*
Elmo takes that as a challenge and manages another draw. Very small, this one, doesn't make him cough, but does make him close his eyes and slither right off the couch, beating Kai to the floor. "If'm not a nerd, I'm /nothin'/," he informs the floor.
*
Kai joins Elmo on the floor. "You're a nice Jewish boy," he says, patting at the man, finding his stomach instead of his hand. "A nice, thin Jewish boy." Like he's one to talk. "Just, like. Wow. Like… I can't feel my body, except I can. I can feel everything. Can't you feel it? The cosmos is like unfolding inside me."
*
Elmo sort of does a quarter-twitch when Kai touches his stomach. Apparently in his books that's a lot more panicky than his hand, but he's also somewhat incapable of moving. So all that happens is kind of a weak twitch. "Hey," he mumbles. "Kai? You really a faygelah?" Then his eyes pop open in horror. "Uh," he says, but can think of no way to walk it back. "N'mind."
*
Kai shrugs a shoulder and says, "You got it, man. The chicks are cool but the cats are hot. Where I'm from, no one cares that much. Buncha squares here who think it matters." He eyes the bong, considers, but he's floating, and the bong would require him to sit up to reach. He pats Elmo's stomach again. "You twitch a lot," he points out.
*
Elmo jolts a little. Mutters, "You keep touching me," as the weight of THC closes his eyes for him. "'kay. Thanks. …What's it like?"
*
Kai gives one last pat, then leaves the poor man alone. He folds his hands over his stomach and gazes up at the starscape ceiling. He's painted this place with exquisite skill. It's like stepping inside a work of art. "What's what like, being a queer?" He shrugs a shoulder. "What's it like being a norm? I mean what's not to love about the male form?" He sighs softly. "All hard lines, taut muscles. The strength, the roughness, the scent of a man." He sucks in a breath through his teeth. "Must be how women feel."
*
Elmo almost doesn't twitch at all, so hah, take that Kai. He cracks his eyelids to stare at the ceiling, too. "I dunno what's't'like being a norm," he mumbles. "Think I must be broken. Dunno what part to fix." Listening to Kai rhapsodize about the male form, he slowly turns red, starting from the neck. "You maybe got it easy. You can do that."
*
Kai laughs, shoulders shaking. "You're one of us," he says. "Oh, Elmo, you poor boy." He finds his cigarettes on the floor and lights one. The pack is set upon Elmo's stomach, along with the lighter. "Why can't you do it? Fuck the squares. Fuck the pigs. This is life on the edge, man. This is being a beatnik." He takes a drag, exhales, and says, "The downtrodden shall rise." Then he erupts in quiet laughter. Rise.
*
Elmo winces as Kai dubs him one of the gays. "I like girls," he protests weakly. "And…and it's not that easy, man." Oops, a beat word slipped in. "Ma would have a heart attack, I can't live with that on my conscience." He fumbles at the cigarettes, eventually getting one out with the help of gravity. Then he can't seem to manage getting it to his mouth and lets his arm flop back over. "s'not so easy," he murmurs again.
*
"Why does ma have to know?" Kai says when he composes himself. He rolls to his side and pushes himself up on an elbow, looking at Elmo, his ever-present grin in place. "Here, sit up," he says. He does his best to help Elmo do this, or at least get his head up. Then he lifts his own cigarette to the man's lips. "You're like a baby bird," he says. "No one said it's easy, Fledge, but it's not impossible. I guess I'm lucky. I got no one to care who I'm having a little squatchel with."
*
Elmo kind of oozes sideways, propped up by the couch. He takes a drag, this one more respectable, and hangs himself up on a cushion so he's at least mostly sitting up. He squints at Kai through the smoke. "How's Ma /not/ gonna know? You saw Tante 'nette in the donut shop. They got lines of communication. Like in the war. Tante 'nette said I oughter invite my nice young friend over for Shabbat. You wanna go? The /entire Lower East Side/ is gonna know your business, buddy."
*
Kai rolls onto his stomach and looks up at Elmo, propped on his elbows. Those eyes, so big and blue. There are little silver flecks like spots of moonlight in them. "I'm not going to blow you at the dinner table," he says. "Besides, I can clean up. I can pass. Just because I don't care doesn't mean it can't happen, man."
*
Elmo groans and covers his eyes. "I should live so long," he says hoarsely, about Kai and that, thing, with the blowing, and the table. Moving on! He peeks at Kai though his fingers. Really long fingers, for his height. In fact his hands are huge for how big he is overall. "You sayin' you wanna come then?"
*
"Usually," Kai says. He pulls another drag off the cigarette and drags the ashtray closer to tap into it. "I'll attend Shabbat, too." He offers Elmo another smoke, lifting the cigarette to is lips. He look Elmo over. Large hands, huh? "You're an easy target, Fledge, low-hanging fruit."
*
Elmo snorts smoke out of his nose, startled. "Whasthat s'posed to mean?" He works up half a good glare at Kai, then works up the dexterity to take the cigarette for himself. "More Beat talk?"
*
Kai relinquishes the cigarette and lights another one for himself. "Making you cough, making you twitch. You're all exposed wires and a brewing storm, man. Tense, wound up tight. You need to relax, man. You let every queero get you verklempft with a look or a touch, your ma won't have to find out from your tante."
*
"Maybe you find it hard to believe," Elmo says with a wry twist of his mouth, "but you're the only guy I know crazy enough to do that stuff. Most people don't bother, yanno." He gives a tiny shrug. "Why would they?" Studying Kai's stupid adorable face and eyes, he adds, "Bet nobody thinks /you're/ ugly."
*
Kai shrugs a shoulder and says, "A chip off the old block." He rests his cheek on Elmo's thigh as gravity draws him in. "I don't think you're ugly," he murmurs. "Not with your sense of style and those eyes."
*
Thigh? Now this is extremely dangerous territory. Tension, just like Kai claimed, makes Elmo's lean thigh tremble like a bundle of humming power lines. He squirms under the weight and heat of wicked beatnik cheek. "C'mon, don't tease." His voice is hoarser than ever. "Maybe I oughter go."
*
Kai lifts his head and tilts it. "I'm not teasing. I like the way you look, man. Who wants to shop out of a magazine? They all look the same." He smiles wryly. "Besides, the Jews I knew in Europe were with it, dig? Their minds were expanded. They got it." He winks, "So I know you could too." He takes another hit off his cigarette and sighs. Not quite coming down yet but he's peaked. Stupid stamina.
*
Elmo hitches his knees up immediately, but definitely not to hide anything. Why would anybody think that? But he can't take a compliment, it's painfully obvious. He grumbles, instead, under his breathe in a Yiddish/English melange that ultimately resolves itself into a curious look. "Yeah," he says quietly. "I know some of 'em did. Had an uncle." Long pause, while he watches the cigarette burn down. "Nobody talks about him."
*
Kai laughs when Elmo hitches up his knees, and he rolls onto his back on the floor, halfway under the ad hoc coffee table. He stabs out his cigarette stub lazily. "Tell me about him," he says, "your uncle. Give me the scoop. If they don't talk about him, we will."