SIGHTSEEING

1x2x1, yaoi, lime

The girl hitched her bag up on her shoulder and walked on to the top step of the escalator going down to the departure gates. It was one of the steeper flights and it made its long, slow way down to the corridor at the bottom. It seemed very quiet here at the moment, most travellers making their way elsewhere towards the busier internal flights. A guy passed by the bottom of the escalator wearing a Stetson and a black tee shirt that exhorted her to ‘Love the Lord’ – further over in the seating area, a baby girl shrieked with pure excitement at the sound of a distant airplane taking off.

She smiled at the sights, though wearily. It had been a long trip and she was looking forward to getting home.

There was movement at the bottom of the parallel escalator coming up, and it caught her eye. Two young men were stepping on, exchanging words which she couldn’t hear, but which made their eyes shine and their faces crease with laughter. The first one was slender and dusky-skinned, his clothes close-fitting to an athletic body and his chocolate brown hair framing features that she suspected could be as stern as they were now amused. The second man took the step below him, equally as tall but slightly lower because of the incline of the escalator. His skin was paler, though flushed with obvious pleasure, and his hair was thick and unusually long, twisted into a generous braid down his back. His body had a restless energy about it, his head tilted up to gaze into the first man’s face, his hands stroking the air, emphasising something that he was saying to his companion.

They were more than friends; she noticed that at once, instinctively. When the braided man ceased waving his hands and instead rested one of them at the other man’s waist, she wasn’t surprised. The first man frowned slightly, as if unsure of the appropriateness of his friend’s behaviour, but then he smiled and his own hand slipped down around the other’s shoulders, tangling into the hair at his nape of his neck.

Their heads tipped closer, dark hair falling forward over a broad forehead as the first man leant down from his higher step; the pale face of the man on the lower step tilting up to match. There was a soft laugh from one of them.

The escalator clunked quietly up and over a mechanical seam and they jolted further against each other. The first man’s hand tightened in the braided hair and tugged his captive closer. She glanced with curiosity at his face and saw his eyes were even brighter than before; his lips were moist and slightly open. His gaze was on his companion, and only his companion.

The escalator rattled and glided its way slowly upwards and she watched in fascination as the dark-haired man pressed those moist lips down on to the other man’s mouth. Her breath caught in her chest; it was an exquisite sight. Their kiss melded them together as if they were parts of the same whole; as if their flesh sought to nestle against each other’s pulse; as if their whole concentration and delight was in that single, fluid, sensual motion.

The braided man’s knuckles whitened as he clung to his lover’s hip; the dark haired man’s head nuzzled in against him, cheek and jaw following his mouth in the caress.

The girl was stricken silent, frozen where she stood. Her stairway rolled ponderously down towards the corridor below, even as their stairway moved at the same speed but in the opposite direction, taking the entwined couple on its way upwards.

They never broke from their embrace, their kiss deepening with each yard of their journey. As they passed her, she heard the exhalation of breath, low and panting. She imagined she could smell the sweet sweat of their passion; could taste the warmth of whispers, shared between their lips.

The escalator path was steep and slow. She’d never wished so much for it to remain that way – for them to have as much time as they craved to hold each other, to savour the moment.

She couldn’t help herself – as she reached the bottom, she craned her head around to look up at the end of their journey, too. They stumbled gently off the top of the stairway, their mouths breaking apart, the braided man laughing softly again and the dark haired man making some sound of amiable remonstration.

They seemed to be arguing about something, though that was too strong a word – they both still smiled, eyes locked on each other’s face. The braided man wriggled his head, disentangling the dark-haired man’s fingers from its hold. The grip on his head had been fierce. Now they were on solid ground together she could see their similar heights, their matched grins of challenge. She no longer saw one bearing down on the other, even if the kiss that resulted had been relished equally by them both.

Was that what they argued about? Who had borne down on whom?

To her astonishment, they didn’t turn to walk on through to the arrivals lounge. Instead they wrestled jokingly at the top of the staircase, a gentle push here, a tug of a sleeve there. And then the dark-haired man stepped across and on to the down escalator that she’d just travelled. They were returning back down to the corridor!

The braided man was on his heels, though this time he was on the higher step. She stared up at them, not caring if she was exposed in her voyeurism. She could see their profiles as the steps wheezed and rattled back down. This time it was the braided man who leant down slightly, his lips forming soft, silent words that must have brushed the other man’s cheek and ear. He put his hands to his lover’s shoulders and then ran his palms down to the elbows. In one single, almost sharp movement, he bent and pressed the dark-haired man’s arms back behind him, as if pinioning him – as if he were holding him captive this time.

The dark head dropped back and she saw the sudden throb of the man’s Adam’s apple as he swallowed hard. He didn’t try to shake off his partner’s grip. The braided man’s mouth twisted in another smile and then his mouth sought its caress again, the kiss resumed on the downward journey.

It was just as rich; just as demanding. Their bodies leaned in against each other, concentrating solely on their own private passion. They stood there, balanced, barely moving except to tighten their hold on each other, but she saw that the man on the higher step slipped his knee between his lover’s thighs; the dark-haired man below him let them fall apart to accommodate him. At the same time he stroked his hips across the braided man’s leg as if seeking to satisfy his ache of desire.

This time there was no mistaking the soft grunt of breath as they kissed, the murmurs of pleasure as they approached her. The child over in the seats area may have screamed again; the loudspeaker may have called out the latest departure announcements. The girl heard none of it. She could only watch as the two men swayed gently in position, being drawn back down to the ground, their bodies shuddering together as the escalator steps slid to horizontal at the end of their flight.

They stumbled carelessly off again, this time only feet away from her. Their mouths parted, laughter and words replacing the kiss. She fancied she could still see the shine of saliva on their bottom lips. The braided man’s grip dropped away: one of his hands remained at rest on his partner’s waist. Their faces pressed close together again, mouths not touching this time, but noses nudging, loose hair brushing against each other’s cheek.

They moved towards her and for a wild second she wondered if they’d keep up the round trip for longer, maybe wasting some idle time before their own departure, maybe seeking amusement and stimulation from each other for longer…

But their path swung away from the escalators. Other passengers were coming down now; were milling around the oasis that was the uninhibited couple and their dazed observer. The girl felt the breeze from the men’s brisk steps as they passed her, saw their arms drop comfortably to their sides, then each of them reach out a hand to grasp the other’s and hold it tightly as they walked on.

Her flight departure was being announced: she heard it distantly, as if through a deep, damp fog. Her mouth felt dry and her heart felt both warm and slightly jealous, all at the same time. As she watched the men move away down the corridor, hips nudging easily against each other’s stride, she still stood like stone.

Just before they moved around a corner and out of sight, they paused. She sucked in a breath. The braided man reached his free hand back to his head as if to adjust his tousled braid. Then he turned around and looked straight at the girl behind them, standing like a statue and staring at their backs.

She gasped. He winked at her. Then the couple swung around the corner and left her there.

End