The wall that separated the smoking area from the main hall consisted of alternating units of smoke colored plexiglass and lava stones. Brian felt comfortable there. The room was large, about size of his loft, and the air was surprisingly clean, a probable effect of the quiet streams of water that filtered through the lava rocks. The morning sun shone through the floor-to-ceiling windows and he could see the seemingly endless fields of moss covered lava towards the horizon and an airplane coming in for landing. He leaned back in his chair closing his eyes and took a deep drag. ‘Shit… why am I such a nasty queen… wait a minute… did I just think that?... we are on our first day on his dream trip and I’m being difficult. It’s not his fault that a volcano erupted…’
He’d just lit his second cigarette when he could feel Justin’s presence. He let Justin take the cigarette and they sat quietly next to each other for a few minutes. Justin placed a hand on his thigh rubbing it lightly. “Do you want to change the tickets, the flight attendant said we would have to fly out this morning if we want to go to Europe, they assume the airports will close down by tonight.
Brian shook his head lightly, contemplating quitely. Then he took Justin's hand and kissed his palm. It was his way of apologizing for his earlier behaviour and he hoped Justin would take it as such.
“Are you thinking about sex?” Justin bumped his knee softly into Brian’s and placed his hand on his thigh.
“Am I that predictable?” he took back the cigarette and finished it. Then he added quietly “No, I was thinking that it’s not really your fault that a volcanic island had a fiery ejaculation as soon as you were near it. Ok, now I’m thinking about sex. Let's find a restroom so that you can suck my cock.” He got up and pulled a laughing Justin from the chair. Justin knew full well that this was as close to an apology he was going to get. And being the expert in the Kinney Operating Manual, Justin knew this was a good way to proceed: 1. Get his man off. 2. Tell him they were going on a road trip in the Icelandic countryside with no definite plans as of yet. But then again, he was the one who made plans, so perhaps it would not be a problem after all.
They spotted a restroom specifically designated for disabled travellers. It was spacious and clean and had no audience like the main restrooms. Brian pulled Justin in there, ignoring a surprised look from a man probably in his sixties who was looking after a woman’s carry on bag outside of the ladies room.
“Ah…. ahhhh….mmmm...mmmph... Oh Justin….. oh.. oohhh.. ahahahaaa Ahhhhhh!!! ...eeeehh….” He pulled his young lover up in his arms and kissed him deeply. “Good…. always good. Brian took a little time making sure his looks were flawless before leaving the room.
When they got outside again, Brian noticed the man again, this time his wife was there with him. He whispered something to his wife and pointed. She looked their way a bit surprised for a few seconds, then slapped him on his hand and hissed out something that sounded like “Oss Okihbentah”. She then smiled, very self satisfied, towards Brian and Justin and pulled her husband into the restroom.
“I guess we’re not in Kansas anymore Dorothy,” Brian said and threw his arm around Justin’s shoulder. “I suppose we already did our good deed for the day. Now, let’s go see what we can do about those tickets.”
“Yeah… about that...” Justin said. “...I’ve decided we are staying in Iceland for a few days.” He patted Brian on his cheek and gave him one of his widest smiles. “I promise I won’t let you regret it.”
“Mmmm… Sunshine, do I need to remind you that we are on a remote island which at the moment is sprouting molten lava and poisonous gasses into the air. AND a giant ash cloud which is going to stain all of my clothes.” Perhaps it was the beta blocking effect of a recent perfect orgasm, but it did not come as a huge shock to Brian that his spontaneous boyfriend would want to stay, however he certainly did not think this was a good idea. “I’m NOT putting you in danger like that!”
“We are BOTH going to be safe. Valur, our flight attendant, told me what part of the country to stay in and...”
“First name basis huh… Did you get his phone number too”
“Jealous much?” Justin teased. ”But for your information, his name tag only had his first name on it and as a matter of fact he did give me his number. For security. I think he and his husband are monogamous - he did not hit on me even once.” If being with Brian for this long had taught him one thing, it was that Brian did not like the idea of him with other men.
“Well, you know I like to try out the local attractions when I travel.” Brian teased, knowing full well he deserved the slap that landed instantly on his ass. He knew Justin had not had sex with other men for months now and as for himself, well other than blowjobs, he had also been uncharacteristically monogamous for a couple of months now and Justin knew that.
“Really, Justin. We don’t have any warm clothes, remember? We packed for a southern European trip,” Brian tried to convince Justin that there were other things that might counteract his brilliant idea in the plan changing department.
“Brian. You did not pack, remember? Your carryon bag has your laptop, a change of clothes, travel size toiletries, condoms and an umbrella in it. Is your memory failing? Should I be worried about our age difference already?” Justin still loved to tease Brian about his age and now it was his turn to get a slap on his ass. He had packed a large suitcase himself mostly some old clothes of theirs that he had planned to get rid of as Brian would lose himself acquiring the latest collections of Prada and Armani. He’d also packed his sketchbooks, and a nice new artist set with charcoal, watercolor and pastel.
“Shouldn’t we at least go by the information desk and get some information…” Brian prodded, but Justin already knew what he wanted, “No, I have what we need. Let’s just go pick up my suitcase.”
They made their way down stairs to the lower level of the terminal that housed the baggage claim and a large Duty Free store. Brian snickered and pointed Justin in the direction of a large sign on the wall. In bold letters it said: “Don’t forget your duty free goods - The city prices will make you cry.”
“It’s true,” said a semi overweight young woman standing close to them. “In this area you can spot who is Icelandic. We all have plastic bags in our hand,” she said with a funny accent. She reminded them both of a much younger version of Debbie, dressed in a colorful way, carrying two large plastic bags filled with bottles and candy.
Brian left Justin to talk with her and entered the shop and before long came out with some candy and two of each, Cartons of Marlboro, Black label Jack, a bunch of beers and two bottles of nice French red wine. He was going to have something French on this trip... besides french kissing.
The young woman was still standing with Justin. They’d already found their bags. “Brian, this is Edda, I’ve offered her a ride with us from the airport. She’s going to help us find the right shops so that you won't freeze to death.” Justin was not gonna make this easy for him. “Well thank you darling for introducing me as a scared little pussy,” he said in a mocking voice.
“Oh, please! Don’t worry, If I think of you in the feline category of animals, it would be a very large cat, never a pussy… warrrr…” she said with a huge smile while making a scratching movement with her hand.
“I’ve convinced Justin not to start with the Blue lagoon. It’s gonna be packed with angry stranded tourists today,” Brian had to admit that he instantly liked this girl. He had a feeling she could come in handy.
They made their way to the customs gate where Edda got pulled aside for inspection. “This always happens,” she said. “I’ll meet you at the car rental desks. Use Hertz, and tell them I have a University Union card. It’ll give us a 20% discount.”
Yep, Edda was coming in handy already.
Half an hour later the three of them left the Leifur Eiríksson airport and Edda pointed them to the two monuments decorating the front area of the airport, The Jet Nest and the Rainbow sculpture.
“As you can see from this artwork, most Icelandic people are quite liberal and we do believe in nature and the theory of evolution rather than creation. The majority of the population belong to The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland and there is a church or two in every community - several in bigger towns. However, most of us mainly go to church for weddings, confirmations and christenings. We accept there is a higher power and talk to God when we are scared, but in reality we have a stronger belief in elves and prefer going to the pools on Sundays. The women here are strong and independent and the level of education is high.”
“Ah... on the topic of strong independant women,” Brian asked earning himself a slap on his arm. “Do you know what ‘Oss Okihbentah’ means?” He then proceeded to tell her about the couple they saw near the restroom area. Justin was covering his face. “Come on Sunshine, no need to feel embarrassed, you did a fine job”
“Hmmm… Oh, yeah, she probably said ‘Uss! ekki benda’, it means: ‘Shush! don’t point.’ So yeah, I guess you’ve already seen something typically Icelandic. Like I said, Icelandic women often control their men.” But other than that we Icelanders are at first encounter pretty closed off and rude. We pick our noses, snort, spit and hardly ever say thanks. We never say please, we don’t even have a word for that. But we are full of passion on the inside and it comes out in buckets, especially when we’ve had something to drink. I like to say we resemble our natural environment. We have a lot of space in our hearts and a lot of fire in our gut, but there is snow on top and one does not necessarily find us helpful at a first encounter. But as soon as there are problems, we stick together and help each other. Especially in the smaller communities. The people of big cities like Reykjavik don’t really care about each other as much anymore.
“So I guess you are not from Iceland then. You don’t really come across as someone who is not ‘helpful at the first encounter’,” Justin said lightheartedly.
“Oh, well no. I am Icelandic, but I’m considered strange,” Edda answered laughing. I prefer to talk to random strangers, especially if it saves me the money I would have spent on the airport bus. It’s way too expensive!” The all laughed at her response.
Brian was happy about the rental car they’d gotten. When they’d arrived at the car rentals
desk, the clerk excused himself saying that they were all out of regular cars but he would be able to offer them an upgrade for a good deal. Brian was in no hurry to mention that a larger vehicle was what he would have wanted all along. They had already a Hertz booking in Paris and the clerk helped them to cancel that booking. He then presented them with masks saying they might come in handy and then made Brian sign a separate paper which stated that any damage caused by ash and extra cleaning of the interior of the car would be charged for when they returned the car. They drove away in a brand new Toyota Land Cruiser and, with Edda’s 20% discount, the price was almost the same as for a small family car.
The drive to Reykjavik took less than an 2 hours including the more than an hour detour Edda suggested they’d take to the mountain plateau east of town where they had a great view of the massive ash cloud now hovering on the eastern horizon. They took some pictures of the cloud that looked like an angry nuclear explosion mushroom and Justin figured he’d use them for sketching later.
On the way, Edda told them about the history of the area, both geophysical and cultural. She explained what would be of interest while driving up the west coast and added comments to the Iceland review magazine.
“How come you know so much about this area, are you from around here?” Justin asked. Her answer made him laugh. “No, I’m from the North, but four years ago, about a year after the financial crisis hit Iceland, I was so depressed and tired of this place that I was not sure whether to commit a suicide or move to Norway. Unfortunately I’m so in love with this crazy island that I could not bear the thought of leaving. So instead of killing myself, I decided to go back to school and I became a licensed tour guide. Now I spend my free time with positive tourists and have learned to love my silly corrupt country again,” Edda said and pulled a new stick of nicotine chewing gum from its pack.
Brian was following her moves in the rearview mirror. “I hate that shit. Tried it on the plane - and the patch. It makes me nauseous. When did you quit smoking?”
“I never really smoked, I’ve smoked more joints in my life than I have cigarettes. I just love nicotine, it cancels out many of my ADHD symptoms and helps me to remember that other people's problems are not my problems. And it prevents me from screaming at my mother and sisters. Thankfully, it’s highly addictive so I remember to take it! This time it was Brian’s turn to laugh. Yep, he liked this woman.
They drove to Edda’s downtown apartment where she dropped off her luggage. She then joined them for breakfast at a nearby diner.
While they were waiting for their order, Edda pulled out three books she had grabbed at home. “They never get to go out of town, poor books, and you will be happy to have them. You won’t have internet everywhere you’ll be going.” Edda said she wanted them to take the books with them on the road. One was a complete roadmap of Iceland, one a typical soft cover tourist information guide, and the last one was a book that listed and gave the directions to most of the natural hydrothermal pools in Iceland. It was in Icelandic but had good maps and pictures and GPS coordinates that would be easy to follow.
Brian wrote a short email to Cynthia, since she had a copy of all of their bookings and travel plans, telling her telegram style that they were stuck in Iceland asking her to cancel as many as she could of their accommodations in France and Italy. He knew she wouldn’t be able to control her curiosity and would call him anyway when she got to work and read the email so he figured it was a waste of time to write much more. He also contacted the hotel they had booked in Reykjavik and asked to cancel their room. He was told that normally they did not refund rooms less than 48 hours before arrival but in this case they had a waiting list so he would not be charged for the room.
“If you’d like to get some Iceland friendly clothes, there are good shops here on the main street, but I would suggest that you go to one of the outlets. They have last year’s colors and models but the prices are half-off and you don’t want to look like silly tourists anyway who just got ripped off now do you?”
Justin shared a knowing look with Brian, he knew he would prefer the latest model. He was right. “I’d prefer if we were to start at the downtown shops. I like when the staff sucks up to my wallet,” Brian said tongue in cheek. “Besides, we saved a fortune on the car.”
They finished eating and Edda accompanied them to the 66° North outdoor boutique in Bankastræti. She was right about the prices, they were pretty steep, Justin thought, but Brian did not seem to care at all and, like a heat seeking missile, went straight for the most expensive item in the store and asked to try it on. In fact, when the salesperson explained that the reason for the price was that it was a brand new special anniversary edition, Brian asked for another one in a size smaller for Justin.
“Really Brian, matching jackets….” That worked and Brian agreed to let him try something else. Justin had to admit though that the jacket looked to be designed specifically with Brian in mind and the sales assistant seemed to agree. Justin caught the sales person staring and almost salivating. He too was obviously gay and much too eager to make a sale. He was flirting with Brian way too much for Justin’s liking, and Justin could not handle so many ‘too’s after a full night of traveling.
“Ohhh darling, this looks fabulous on you! I LOVE it! So sexy! I want you to buy it so that you can wear it while you fuck me…. But…. it’s more city fashion and less camping.” Justin channeled Emmett so strongly that Brian had trouble keeping a straight face (no pun intended).
“Yeah,” Brian had to agree, he did look very good in that jacket. “But… we are not going camping so I…” Justin did not let him finish. “We ARE going out of town, and we are doing some sightseeing, probably on a boat or horse back…” This time it was Brian’s turn to interrupt, “Boat, yes. Horse, No. Way. In. Hell.” He gave Justin a tiny butterfly kiss on his pouted lips. “Jealous much?”
“Cut it out!” Justin hissed and gently shoved him away and glared at the sales assistant. “Show us something more practical please,” Justin said in his best country club voice. Brian had to give it to him, Justin was fierce when it came to making a point.
Half an hour later both men were nicely outfitted with PolarTec NeoShell Snæfell 3-season jackets, Brian had picked orange and Justin silver. They’d also gotten black pant’s in the same line.
“You OK?” Brian reassuringly put his hand on Justin’s lower back. He had certainly noticed how the sales assistant was rudely ignoring Justin and still was sucking up to him.
“Can I help you with anything else, Sir?” the ‘Sale-suck’ asked, still pretending not notice Justin even though they were both standing in front of him.
Brian looked him straight in his eyes and said in an insincere yet sultry way, “Yeah, if you’d like to close this sale you can start by apologizing to my partner here and then you can wrap up that Special edition jacket for me.” Brian then grabbed Justin and made a show of hugging him back to front and stroking his chest while kissing him a big wet kiss directly in front of the assistant, who finally had the decency to look embarrassed.
Edda got them a 15% discount with her Outdoor Club membership card and then she reminded the sales assistant to issue a Tax Free receipt. Since they had spent more than $2,000 in the shop they would get refunded $400 at the airport. They left the shop and Edda gave them directions to the 66°N outlet for mid-layers, woolen underwear and accessories. Brian insisted she choose a jacket and some accessories for herself as a thank you for all the help.
“Where are we going to store all this? It’s going to make a mess in the car,” Brian complained when he counted the 4 big plastic bags Justin and he were carrying. “I’ll meet you by the jeep.” He then dived into a home market next door to try to find some better bags to use until something better came along.
---
Once they had loaded all of their purchases into the two zippered storage bags, Brian had brought back from the home market, they decided to sit down at a small coffee house to fuel up a bit.
“Are you sure you’re going to be all right here in town? We could drive you up the coast if you like,” Justin asked their new friend as they drank the amazingly good coffee.
”Sunshine, I’m sure Edda has things she needs to take care of here in town,” Brian said before his partner could continue, and then a bit lower but just loud enough so that he knew Edda could also hear, “I’ll punish you for this later.”
Edda could not help laughing. “As much as I’m sure I’d have a blast traveling with you two, I do have a job and we are going to be very busy in the coming weeks.” Even though it still was her vacation for another three days Edda was going to go to have to go in later today. She had already told them she worked for the Institute of Experimental Pathology, and she knew that with an active volcano they would receive more samples from sick animals and have to deal with a lot more paperwork because of the necessary transfer of animals between disease control zones. “Besides, I’ll be making some money hosting stranded tourists in the next few weeks. They are going to be pretty desperate for a place that does not cost as much as the hotels. It would be great though if you boys could drop me off at work, I’m going in for a few hours”
The boys were happy to give her a lift to work. They promised to send her a text with their travel plans if they decided to go hiking and agreed to check in with her as soon as they were back in civilization or else she would send a rescue team. They also promised to call if they ran into any trouble and to take her out for a night on the town when they would get back.
They were now finally ready to leave Reykjavík and start Justin’s spontaneous trip around the Icelandic countryside. Brian did not say anything out loud but he felt a little anxious. Not only were they in a unfamiliar territory under unusual circumstances but they had never done something like this together. He did realize though that their relationship was at a point where it needed a kick in the right direction and Justin was a smart man, therefore he wanted to follow his idea and see where it led.
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