Together - 1. Chapter 1

Together, we gazed up toward the heavens only to lower our heads and sigh in unison. The sky was overcast, and the fourteen inch Dobsonion telescope wasn't going to be of any use. "Do you know what we need?" I asked. "- A weather machine." There was really nothing we could do about the weather of course, but then, unfavorable weather didn't mean our trip had to be for nothing. Besides, we’d be there for a week; the clouds were bound to clear up eventually.

"Come and get me, and I'll change the weather for you" Silven called out as he took off through the remote, abandoned field we had set up camp in. I turned, smiling, and watched as he dashed away. He always knew how to make the best of things and I did enjoy chasing after him… so I took off in swift pursuit, laughing a bit to myself. I might not get to look at celestial bodies that night, but there was still his to enjoy, and that was fine for both of us.

He was my friend, my joy, my reason for being… my love. We met about a year before this little vacation... a lifetime ago now, it seems. I was at college and my computer was broken. He was running his own small business fixing broken computers. There was something in his eyes that caught my attention when he showed up at the dorm that night... I didn’t know what it was, or why, but they drew me in and I didn’t want him to ever leave. We talked and joked around for an hour while he toiled away at my computer. He really had a great sense of humor, so I invited him back for a movie the next night, hoping he wouldn't be busy or worse, freaked out by a guy asking him over for a movie. To my surprise he said yes, and that was how we became a couple… or rather, that was how we became friends. How we became a couple is a story for another time.

I followed him across the field and down a path through the forest. I don't think he knew where he was headed, but it didn't matter. I'd follow him to the end of the world were that where he wanted to be. He darted left behind a tree and right around another. He still had a good lead on me, but I was closing the gap fast, until I lost sight of him as he jumped over and behind a line of thick bushes. I reached the same hedge and ploughed right through, earning myself a few scratches and tripping over a surfaced root I hadn't seen. As I picked myself up I looked around and realized I didn't have any idea where Silven had gone to. Now the real game would begin. Hide-and-seek, lovers' style. Our little chase had just become a hunt, and in our game, the hunter could easily become the hunted.

I looked around carefully, walking slowly and trying to avoid dry patches of leaves. Nothing gives away one's position quite like walking through dried up discarded plant matter. I cautiously made my way to a safer vantage point, hugging the hedgeline and ducking behind a tree. I knew I was at a disadvantage. In my rush to catch up to Silven I'd neglected to take in a good look at the area for possible hiding and look out spots. He couldn't have gotten far yet though, so I focused on identifying possible routs of escape. To my left there was a four foot deep trench that probably used to hold water but from what I could tell was mostly dry. It could work as a quick spot to hide, but not for long if someone came looking, and here I was, someone coming to look. There wasn't anywhere else nearby that Silven could have so quickly disappeared to so I assumed that was where he had gone, and that he wouldn't be there anymore. In my earlier excitement I'd made stupid, obvious mistakes, but now I was in hunter mode, and analyzing terrain was one of my sepcialties. The trench would make for quick cover and a quick escape, but who ever was in it would be vulnerable. He knew that, I knew that, and he knew that I knew that. "That bastard!" I grumbled. This was his way of teasing me for not being more alert before. I'd get him for that.

I approached the trench, hoping to get an idea of which direction he'd gone. I was in luck. I knew he had to be moving quickly, and the pile of barbed wire about five feet down one end of the trench wouldn't be on his list of things to get tangled in. I looked up the other way and realized this was going to be a bit harder than I thought. The trench curved around several trees with thick trunks and a number of dense bushes as well as uneven ground… any of which could provide easy cover for Silven's escape. With so many options, and me off balance from my little trip through the hedge, I knew he'd had plenty of time to pick his means of evasion and by the time I got there he could very well already be circling back around to catch me from behind. My chances of winning this round were looking thin, but I wasn't about to give up.

Trying to figure out which means he had used to cover his exit from the trench was an exercise in futility. Each of the ways he could have gone, while providing good cover for an escape, were also invitations to ambush for whoever came looking. Either he was there, waiting for me, or he was already gone, figuring out how to catch me by surprise. I wasn't going to let myself get ambushed, so it was time to find some place to hide - some place with a good view and minimal exposure. Not one to be sloppy when I put my mind to it, I also had to assume he was already watching me and it was my turn to make an escape. With a quick glance to my right I caught sight of just what I needed to pull it off.

Dodging low and moving quickly, I kept just below the brush line and weaved my way around, trying to lose eyes that may or may not have been following me. Another ten feet and I would reach the old tree. Its leaves were thick enough to make it hard to see in, but it would be easy enough to see out, and once I got up to some of the higher branches I'd have a perfect view of the whole area. Thinking pretty highly of myself I crossed through the last of the low bushes and was just reaching for the lowest bough when I heard something above me. I glanced up just in time to lift up my arms and catch my love as he pounced on me laughing up a storm and knocking me to the ground. We smiled, staring into each other's eyes. He'd caught me fairly. I should have known better than to go for the best look out point. He had the lead, of course he'd have gotten there first.

He may have caught me fairly, but I wasn't one to be submissive. With his body draped over mine I leaned upward and took his lips in a kiss, then rolled him over and pressed my lips to his neck. I shivered as he ran his hands up under my shirt, exploring my sides and resting them on my chest. As I wiggled out of my over-shirt, he slipped his hands back out just long enough to pull the white cotton t-shirt over my head and discard the last bit of cloth separating the upper portions of my body from open air. He sat up and I did the same for him, taking his lips in mine again and again as I unbuttoned his blue fern-decorated shirt. I leaned in and he leaned back, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me close, then rolling me over but overshooting his momentum - he ended up laughing flat on his back, lying next to me.

We are so alike, he and I. Both of us had rough times growing up and both of us had spent most of our lives building walls between ourselves and everyone else. There was a time in my life where I'd actually forgotten what it was like to be happy. Coming out of that place was difficult, learning to allow myself to feel again was not easy, and although I wanted to break free of the metaphorical prison I'd built for myself I had no one I felt I could trust and no one to open up to. For three years I knew I wanted to open up but did not know how or who to open up to. By an extraordinary stroke of luck, I met Silven. Silven was someone I'd never imagined I'd ever find. Silven was like me.

We had never met before, had lived entirely separate lives, but the pain we had each gone through and our individual struggles with it were very much alike. Like me, he had closed himself off to the world. Like me, he had built up walls strong and hard, higher and higher, until eventually they cracked and tumbled down of their own accord, crushing their builder beneath them. Like me, he had begun the struggle to dig his way out from under them. We found each other while we were each pushing our own way back up, and when he offered to help me I took his hand. I was hesitant at first, but as he offered up his soul I lost my doubt, realizing we were under much the same pile of emotional rubble. Neither of us had made much progress alone, but as we got closer to each other it became much easier to move the caved-in walls. Now, though we each still have remnants of the past clinging to us as dust clings to those who have climbed from the wreck of a fallen building, we've climbed out from under the wreckage of our past, and are journeying together on a new path.

All this passed through my mind as we lay next to each other. He propped himself up on one arm and seeing my gaze unfocused, he asked "What's wrong, Demetz?" I turned, looking into his eyes once more. What I thought was, "When I'm with you, nothing." Sitting up and leaning in, I just smiled and kissed him again. He was my friend, my joy, my reason for being… my love. Together we could overcome anything and everything.

And we would.