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When Brian and Justin landed in Keflavik the first thing they did was… well, they did not do the same thing. In fact they did not even leave the plane together.
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His name was Valur and he had been managing first class on the flight. He was not a tall man at his 5’8” but was well built and had healthy looking slightly tanned skin that looked good with his dark blond half long hair. He was 37 years old but people never guessed his age correctly; he was not uncomfortable with his age but yet was secretly pleased to know that he did not look a day older than thirty. Call it good genes - that was definitely a factor - but he also exercised almost every day and was semi faithful to the Paleo lifestyle with one or two days a week where he would fast or only consume green vegetables and fish oil. Add to that his passion for hiking and swimming on his days off.
He’d been working as cabin crew for almost 20 years now, and he loved his job. His aunt had been a stewardess and ever since he could remember he’d known he wanted to be one too. When he was 18 he was able to use her connections to get a job with Air Atlanta in pilgrim routes between east Africa and Mecca. Most of the pilgrims were on an airplane for the first time in their lives which created many challenges every day. After three very interesting but demanding years with them, he landed a job with The United Emirates Airlines and moved to Dubai. He then spend the next 8 years jetting around the world, getting a permanent position in first class almost immediately using skills that he offered to certain high level passengers and people in the business that he was glad to keep secret. Being gay in Dubai was not something one would care to have become known by the wrong people. He took a leave from The Emirates eight years ago and moved back home to Iceland when his mother was diagnosed with cancer. Thankfully her treatment was successful but he did not return to Dubai because, as fate would have it, love intervened. His partner of seven years now, and husband for two years, lived in Iceland and owned his own tour company.
Valur then started working for Icelandair and to his sheer joy he got, on certain flights, the chance to work alongside his beloved aunt for her last months before she retired on her twenty-ninth birthday (at least his aunt claimed it was still her twenty-ninth birthday, even though she’d been saying she was twenty-nine for more than twenty years). That was one of the things he loved about Icelandair, the crew members very not fired just because they were not young and hot any more, like he’d gotten used to in the business. The Union in Iceland was strong and good at looking after their rights and the airline, although not paying a lot, valued experience rather than model looks. Well then again, Valur, had both, but who asked anyway. The spirit among the crew was great; they joked with each other and the passengers and being gay was definitely not a problem. He never once experienced prejudice from coworkers, and only in rare cases from passengers, mostly when they’d had too much to drink. But then his fellow crew members would happily offer to spit in the drinks of those passengers or not so accidentally pour hot coffee a little bit out of the cup in their laps.
The evening flights from the US were not very busy, especially not in First Class. The passengers in general did not care to eat and shop like on flights earlier in the day. Rather, they liked to use the entertainment system, read or work. On such flights, he would watch the passengers and try to figure out what kind of people they were. He’d always been interested in people that way and his people and communications skills were great, even if he did say so himself. At the very least these skills had gained him some good tips in the past.
He couldn’t help but notice the two men in seats 3 C and D, on tonight’s flight. They were both exceptionally beautiful and he would have guessed they were long time partners if not for the fact that the younger one looked not a day older than 21. Although his initial guess would have been that they had a strong relationship, he was not sure, but he could sense some tension also. It didn’t help that there was unusual turbulence starting over Labrador and resuming over Greenland.
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Shortly before landing:
“Brian what’s going on?” Justin had woken up from a slumber as the pilot started talking in what he assumed was Icelandic. The Pilot had been had been talking for a while now and Justin noticed that the passengers across from them, who obviously understood what was being said, were looking a bit upset.
No one had slept well during the last hour; there had been a lot of turbulence over Greenland. “I know I’m supposed to have superpowers but I have not mastered Icelandic yet,” Brian said a bit harshly. He could also sense something was not right.
“Good morning Ladies and gentlemen, this is the pilot speaking. We are about to begin our final descent to Keflavik airport. The local time is 5:45 and the weather in Keflavik is good, clear sky, 11°C and fresh breeze from north west. Please fasten your seat belts and place your tray tables in an upright position… “
Then the pilot added something that neither Brian nor Justin had been expecting.
“I need a smoke, this patch is NOT working, bring my bag,“ Brian growled and grabbed his jacket as he got up from his seat and left the plane. One more of the perks of First Class; getting to leave first.
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‘Great… just great… this is actually not so great…’ Justin leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath trying to calm himself. ‘Just relax and give him some time. You read the Brian Kinney Manual’. He wasn’t exactly surprised by Brian’s small queen-out, this trip was not at all going how he had planned. He could feel a tear escaping…
They’d been managing – much better than he had hoped – a deluxe version of a long distance relationship for almost five months now since he’d moved to New York. Justin would fly to Pittsburgh once or twice every month and stay for a long weekend and Brian would do the same. It wasn’t easy but they agreed that Justin should stay in New York for at least a year and build some connections. He was happy to say that he already had an agent and had paintings in a few small shows even. None of the shows were a big thing but his agent assured him people were noticing him. Brian was supporting him and Justin knew he was a luxury version of an artist trying to make it. It was a far cry away from many of the other very talented people he’d met, some of whom he shared a large studio space with. But, as the summer began to heat up the his poorly air conditioned studio apartment, Justin started to want to leave the city. He became more and more convinced that he did not need to be there. Yes, New York was the hot spot for art; thousands of poor and equally hungry young artists could not be wrong. He did not discuss this with Brian or his agent though; she was definitely the kind that did not see outside of the city and she would drop him like a hot potato and start focusing on someone new if she read his thoughts.
One unusually hot day in May an IcelandAir advertisement online caught his eye suggesting a trip to Europe with a stop over for 3 days in Iceland. A promise of fresh days and bright nights sure sounded good.
He’d managed to get Brian to agree to taking two weeks off from Kinnetik to go to Europe. They were going to start with a stopover in Iceland, then fly to Paris and then spend a week driving through the Alps and a week in Italy, flying back from Rome. Of course it took some persuasion; Brian did not really feel they needed a stop on a freezing cold island that had woolen sweaters instead of Prada and dirt roads and polar bears instead of luxurious beach resorts. He preferred a direct Air France connection straight to Paris. Justin promised him he would not regret it. He wanted to go on a Super Jeep to a glacier and bathe at a place called the Blue Lagoon. The pictures sure looked great… and with the white water, he thought they could certainly think of something fun to do.
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“It’s never fun when this happens,” the handsome flight attendant put his hand on Justin’s shoulder and offered him a napkin, “but the seismologists have been monitoring this volcano closely, she’s been ready to pop for months now. It’s always comes as a surprise though. Here, let me help you with those bags sweetheart, they probably shifted during the flight”.
“Yeah, well we don’t really need any more complications right now“ Justin tried to put on a brave smile, “I guess I don’t need this one now” he waved the Lonely Planet guide to Paris. “It was my idea to come here, I really wanted to stop in Iceland for a few days, but risking being stuck in Iceland is not really going to sit well with Brian. Now I don’t know what to do… I mean what happens next?”
“Ah, well, It’s hard to say, it really depends on the winds. But you are right, you are probably not going to Paris this time, I’m afraid the airports in Britain and France will most likely have closed down by tonight, then Scandinavia in a couple of days. The ash cloud is now moving directly southeast from here and it won’t take long for it to start interfering with air traffic. I’m pretty sure all outgoing eastbound flights are overbooked, a lot of the passengers are trying to change their tickets. For westbound flights you should have a window of one or two days to get back home. But you need to think quickly, if you wish to change your ticket you’ll need to do that very soon. The news is spreading fast and the planes will be fully booked soon if they aren’t already”
“I really want to spend some time here but… well… is it dangerous?” Justin knew Brian would never leave the airport if he thought it might put them in danger.
“I don’t want to scare you, it’s not dangerous if you stay out of the affected areas and you can’t accidentally drive too close, the roads are blocked. However, you need to realize that the winds in Iceland are constantly changing and the ash cloud can easily close down this airport also, and then I’m afraid that you won’t be staying here for a few days… more like a few weeks. If you decide to stay though, I won’t lie to you - it’s not going to be easy for everyone. People are being evacuated from the affected area and there will be some chaos in the capital with all the extra people and stranded tourists. I don’t think you’ll find a hotel very easily. People get frustrated and EVERYTHING gets so dirty, you wouldn’t believe it. You know, if you decide to stay your best bet is to rent a car and drive up the west coast actually. Let me give you a few pointers, the line at the tourist information desk is going to be hell. Then you can think about it”
Valur grabbed the ‘Iceland Review’ in-flight magazine from the nearest seat pocket and started writing on it. “You’ll find nice hotels along the west coast as soon as you are a couple of hours out of Reykjavik.” He circled a few hotels listed in the magazine. “Everything in the magazine is good quality. I’m heading to Copenhagen now, but I hope to hitch a ride back this afternoon. I wrote my number here on the front. Please don’t feel weird about calling if you have any questions. Oh and don’t worry about that - I love to help out and you know getting stuck in Iceland during the summer is not the worst thing in the world, trust me I’ve been to pretty much every country in the world, and Iceland is still my favorite.”
Justin felt much better having talked to the flight attendant, “Thank you for your advice, I can’t believe how nice you are, mmm.. I’m not sure how to say your name correctly?”
Valur smiled widely “Oh, don’t worry about that, you are certainly not the first, people call me Value, Fallyour, Ballor, some friends even call me V. But the right way to say it is Val as in Valencia then comes U like focus and the r sounds like “hr”, Icelandic can be a bit tricky”. Justin felt a little unease, things were happening so fast and he still had to find Brian.
Valur smiled knowingly as if he read his mind. “He is a very beautiful man, but a difficult one I assume. My partner is a tricky one too, that’s why I keep flying, time apart is what keeps our marriage alive… believe me, it took me years to tame my polar bear.”
Justin couldn’t help laughing at that. ‘You know I think I like Iceland already, we’re staying as long as it takes. I better go find Brian so I can make sure he realizes that.’ Justin waved good bye to Valur and got off the plane, glad that Brian’s carry-on bag was small and he himself only had his messenger bag. He flashed his best country club smile at an airport assistant.
“Hi, could you direct me to the nearest smoking area”…
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