I sighed, then realized it was June already. Damn gay pride month. Idiots going out to display their stupidity, as if saying "look at me, I SO want to go to prison tee-hee, can't wait to drop the soap bar in the showers". I cursed loudly before hanging up the phone. Guess it was time to give some of those idiots a good fuck.
Sasha was looking at me, still half-asleep.
I sighed again before addressing him. "Get moving. It's June already. And apparently, some big idiot was caught being an idiot."
The ride to Central was strangely silent. I glanced a couple times at Sasha, who was deep inside his mind. Something was upsetting him. I could only guess what.
- - -
After checking in at the main entrance, we took the elevator to my office, still in silence. Once in, I locked the door and looked at him. "Sasha. Got anything to say?"
He sighed and pointed his head at the door to the safe room. "Mind if we… keep this private?"
"Sure," I said, unlocking said door and locking it again after we both got int. "So?"
"It's… I … heard you this morning. I…"
I sighed. "Sasha. I know what's in that head of yours. You care too damn much about everything and everyone. But tell me," I said, softly caressing the once again fresh scar on his cheek, "who do you work for."
He looked intensely at me. "You."
I nodded and smiled at him. "Exactly. And what is your job?"
"To follow orders."
"Bingo. Now, let me tell you one thing: those idiots got themselves into this mess."
He grabbed my hand as I was about to open the door. "… Don't you feel like a hypocrite, Andrei?"
I couldn't help laughing and winking an eye at him. "Why would you say that, my boy?"
- - -
Back in my office, I checked the files on the detainees. Vyacheslav Yakubovich and Lev Kalinin. Two high-profile gay rights activists. This time they had apparently been harassing some news channels to correct some misleading numbers of yearly detentions during the gay pride events. Officially they had been brought in for harassment. In reality, they probably had sent a couple too many letters, and someone with some common sense and very little patience for bullshit reported them. And now our job was to make sure they learned the lesson.
I skimmed over the rest of their files. Almost yearly detentions, every time for some similar nonsense. It annoyed me that I had to waste my time on this nonsense instead of going after the real terrorists and mobsters, but hey, I wasn't about to complain about work.
I called Sasha via comms chip. "Sasha. I'm sending you the files. I want you to start by yourself, you're better at playing nice than me. Your job is to seduce them. Make them show their rainbow colors on camera. And don't worry, we'll edit out anything that could get you in trouble."
He smiled. "Of course, Andrei."
- - -
Sasha lightly touched his scarred cheek and took a deep breath before smiling to himself and unlocking the door to the cell. The room inside was our everyday white room -- full tiled walls and floor, with a harsh cold light radiating from the whole ceiling. In the center, a polished steel table, along with four steel chairs, the furthest ones occupied by the two men.
They made a funny couple. One of them was on the round side -- chubby and quite short and apparently had never heard about shaving razors. The other was tall, a gym rat, and didn't seem to have a single hair on his body. The first thing they did when they saw Sasha enter was kiss passionately.
Sasha sighed. He'd finally gotten it. They were idiots who didn't know when to stop fighting and swallow their stupid pride even if their lives depended on it -- or maybe they didn't even realize their lives were actually on the line.
The two men finally broke the kiss and giggled like teenagers, Lev winking provocatively at Sasha, as if saying "yes we're gay and proud and there's nothing you can do about that."
Sasha sighed again. "That was very romantic but you're here for harassing some media workers."
They looked at each other before looking back at Sasha. "We all know why we're here for, honey," said Slava, his voice a forced high pitch that almost made me want to turn audio off.
Sasha looked at them and shrugged. "Well, that's what your file says, guys. But maybe you want to tell me your version of it?"
"We never sent those letters, but it seems like someone likes us enough to want to see us every other year," said Slava. "Whoever it is, keeps making up stuff to arrest us."
Sasha sighed. "You really think lying to me is gonna help you?"
"We don’t lie, honey," replied Lev in a similarly annoying fake high-pitched voice.
Sasha got up and went to disconnect the main camera. The two men followed him with their eyes, Lev 'absentmindedly' whistling as he gave them his back. Sasha ignored it and sat back. "Okay. So. I'm willing to be impartial here and listen to your version, but, ahem, for obvious reasons, it has to be off the record. So, care to tell me what is supposedly going on?"
Lev took the lead. "Look, we never sent those letters, somebody did it in our name. Every single year is the same. We haven't done anything, we're just the way we are, and we don't even go out of our way to show it."
Sasha rolled his eyes at what was probably the worst lie of the year.
Slava corrected his friend. "You think … our welcome was an obvious display, and it indeed was. But see -- we won't let anyone shut us down. This is what we are, and nothing will change that. We're tired of your lies, of making up stuff to bring us here when the actual reason is painfully obvious, honey."
Sasha looked at them. "Look, if you insist on lying, I can't help you." And with that, he got up and left.
- - -
I called him as soon as the door closed. "Sasha, the hell was that? Don't tell me you have any problem?"
He shook his head. "Nah. I know they're telling the truth, I don't care. But you asked me to get them on video… and I'll tell you, now that the main camera is off, it's a matter of time before they get bored and start having gay fun."
I laughed. The boy was simply brilliant.
