Shared Time

Misco grimaced. He could hear music from the other corner of the tavern, the musician strumming away on some kind of string instrument. And that was impressive, because the voices between his spot and the corner should’ve muffled that. The musician seemed to be using some kind of magic to make sure the music could be heard from everywhere. Unfortunately, he’d been very sloppy, and created a feedback loop. The music was loud, so people talked louder to hear each other, and the music ramped up further.

And . . . it shouldn’t have been that bad, but it was. It was grating. Misco’s head dropped, and he tightened his grip on the bar. He could feel the beginnings of a headache scraping away at the back of his head.

Then, just as abruptly, it was over. Everything was quiet and still.

Misco was suddenly aware of how hard he was holding the table, how much his teeth had clenched together. Yeah, maybe that was the reason for the headache.

He let go, lifted his head, stood upright, and unclenched his jaw.

Everything around him was completely, unrealistically, still. No one even blinked or breathed. It was like suddenly being in a wax museum, and it went beyond that. It was like a blue haze had fallen over the air, making everyone and everything dull. Like a foggy day. With one exception.

Misco looked down the bar at the one person still in full color. His boyfriend, Wai. Well, it wasn’t Wai right now.

Wai was his boyfriend. He was clumsy. He worked as a translator. He claimed to have no hobbies, even as Misco’s walls filled with paintings. He had oddly strong opinions on goat milk versus cow.

Sands of Time was a deity. Obviously, one related to time. His physical body was destroyed. He lived on in others, in exchange for giving them some magic. He could stop time, and reverse it. (He could also fast forward time, but that didn’t come in handy very often.)

Misco could tell who was active pretty easily. Some people thought that was just because he was so close to Wai, but honestly, the two were very different. Telling them apart, shouldn’t be hard.

“Sands of Time.”

The man at the bar gave a single nod, confirming it. He tilted his head, like someone curious, but his expression was blank.

“Wai was worried about you. He said, I believe, that it looked like you were bracing to be shredded like woodchips.”

Right. That was a bit gruesome.

And here Misco had hoped he was hiding his discomfort, at least from the patrons. That was embarrassing.

And of course, Wai would worry. But Sands of Time decidedly wouldn’t. He rarely worried about anything other than life or death. He wasn’t like a mortal.

He didn’t fidget in Misco’s silence, or any other pause really. If he made a facial expression, it usually came off a little hollow. But Misco could see a hint of genuine annoyance right now. He didn’t want to be doing this.

Well, Misco wasn’t in the habit of caring what Sands wanted.

“Wai can hear me right now, right?” Misco asked.

Sands nodded again. The way Misco understood it, both of them could easily be aware of the what the other was doing. They had to choose to ignore it.

“Sorry for worrying you,” Misco said. “I don’t always take loud noises very well.” He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, and maybe to soothe it.

A pause.

“Well? May time resume?” Sands asked.

Misco thought about it.

Sands of Time’s magic had limits. He couldn’t keep time frozen like this forever. The limit apparently had more to do with Wai’s body than Sand’s power, but the result was the same. Figured. Even when the world was frozen, there was a time limit.

Misco could let time resume. He’d keep working the front of the bar. The noise wasn’t great, but he could adjust to it. Or he could tell the musician to stop doing what he was doing. Wai would stay seated up front, but Misco wouldn’t have much time to spend with him. Then, by the time the tavern was closed, he’d be ready to sleep. And he wouldn’t get to spend time with Wai in the morning either. He worked as a translator. It kept him pretty busy. And that was ignoring the fact that Wai sometimes wasn’t in control of his own body, Sands was.

So Misco could keep working, but he found he didn’t want to.

“Can you wake Robin up?” Misco asked.

Sands nodded. Misco’s assistant, out in the middle of the room, stumbled. Robin was apparently a little caught off guard, being one of only three people awake.

Misco slipped to the middle of the room, let Robin know the plan, and went to the stairs. His living area was up there.

About halfway up, the sound started up downstairs. At the top, Wai tripped on the last step. Misco caught him.

“Good to see you again.”

“Are you okay?” Wai asked, getting back to his feet so Misco could stop supporting him. (He was bigger than Misco, and Misco had never been that physically strong.)

Misco rolled his eyes. He really was too worried. “I’m fine. Possibly better than you.”

He didn’t even have a headache anymore.

He went to the couch and dropped on it.

Wai’s skeptical expression faded to a fond smile, like Misco was being particularly endearing. He plopped onto the couch next to Misco.

“I can’t believe you have a problem with loud noise, and you own a tavern,” Wai teased.

Misco rubbed the bridge of his nose. It was not the first time someone had pointed that out. “If people want to party at a noisy tavern, they can go to the other one in town. There is a market for people who want some quiet.”

Especially since a lot of people passed through this town, on the way to someplace else. Plenty of travelers were tired, and just wanted someplace they could get food and drink, without too much hassle.

“Anyway, what are you complaining for?” Misco asked, turning to him. “Now we have the night to ourselves.”

“Well, that is nice,” Wai agreed. He put an arm around Misco’s shoulder, and pulled him closer. Then his smile faded. “I am sorry. I’m always so busy, we rarely have chances to spend time together, and it’s mostly my fault.”

Oh, that was absolutely not true. Misco could travel with Wai, or put Robin in charge on more nights like these. Wai at least had important reasons he was unavailable. By comparison, Misco was just stubborn.

And Sands of Time might eat into Misco’s time with Wai, but he could also add to it.

And he should probably start saying some of this to Wai.

“Don’t be like that,” Misco said. “You’re the reason we have all the time in the world.”