Goofy-foot - 3. Chapter 3

Jason turned over in bed for about the hundredth time and looked at the clock. It was just midnight. He'd been in bed for an hour already, and sleep just wouldn't come.

After dinner, he'd looked at the pictures he'd taken earlier that day, and again marveled over how beautiful Ray's face was. The magnetism was incredible, and Jason had laid down in his bed and let his fantasies take charge, with predictable results. But even after relieving himself of some of his tension, the picture of Ray in his mind remained ever-present.

I'm obsessed with this guy, he decided, after finding himself unable to concentrate on any of his normal evening routines. He didn't feel like chatting with his friends, and just surfing the web seemed dull and uninteresting. The TV had nothing that could hold his attention, and when he put some music on, it just seemed annoying. Wrong.

Finally, around eleven, he'd said goodnight to his parents, citing a busy day, and headed off for bed. And now, he couldn't sleep.

The insistence with which the little movie of his encounter with Ray that day kept replaying in his mind was aggravating. Jason usually felt like he was in fair control of his own head; but tonight it seemed that all bets were off. Try as he might, he could not get the image of Ray's face to leave his thoughts.

Finally, Jason got up and padded over to his bedroom window and looked outside. The moon was up, and full, and the world of night brightly lit. The street lamps, usually the dominant features of suburban nights, seemed subdued by the presence of nature's own spotlight shining down from above.

Jason smiled, and lifted the sash. His parents had the air on, but it wasn't running just now. The heat of the day had retreated until morning, the light, ocean-borne breeze that came in through the screen cool and lacking the humidity that had marked the day.

Their house was located in one of the island suburbs that was part of the greater metropolis, but well removed from the skyline of skyscrapers that was the beating heart of it all, and the far lights on the horizon that marked the real city limits were too distant to have any power here. The night carried a sense of peace with it that Jason found restful, so much so that a desire to be out in it immediately formed inside his head. He grinned, looked over his shoulder at where his board stood up against the side of his nightstand, and made his decision.

Jason donned his work jeans, found a clean tee-shirt and pulled it on, and stuck his bare feet into his Converses and laced them up. He put his trusty baseball cap on bill-back, grabbed up his board, and went back to the window. The screen squeaked a little when it was raised, so he pushed it up slowly until it locked. Then he dropped his board into the bush to one side of the window, climbed out, and stepped down onto the two large stone blocks he'd put there just for this very reason. Turning, he pulled the sash down, paused to listen for a moment, and then stepped down off the blocks.

Sleepless nights were not exactly new to him, and he often burned off the excess energy that seemed to be keeping him awake by taking his board out for a few turns around the block, or even a run over to the high school, where he'd use the ramps and rails outside the lunchroom doors for a little practice. The school parking lot was well-lit, and the cops seemed not to be too interested in this part of town at night. He'd never had a run in with them, nor had to explain what he was doing out riding so late. They announced their occasional drive-bys with headlights that could not be missed for a long time before they got close enough to see him.

Jason took his board out to the street, dropped it and stepped onto it in one move. He pushed off, and headed off down the pavement. The night air passed around him, invigorating in its freshness.

The moon cast an intense white light over everything, offering abnormally good seeing for midnight, and giving the landscape a slightly eerie quality. The shadows beneath trees were unusually deep, and the colors of everything he could see had been muted to pastels and grays. The streetlights hovered over slightly orangish pools of light, light that normally was good at battling the darkness, but which seemed weirdly ineffective beneath the white glow from above.

He reached the end of his street and paused, looking off down the cross street towards the well-lit parking lot of the high school. He really felt no attraction to go there. He felt like cruising, just winging it, and going where the road happened to take him. So he pushed off again, and stayed on in the same direction he'd been traveling.

Above him, the full moon had washed out the midnight stars, but they still lived at the horizons, winking and blinking in the shifting night air. Small sounds reached his ears, all the tiny signals that accompanied the much reduced movements of people at this hour. Remnant traffic on distant highways, now just the faintest of soft growls, mingled with unnameable sounds that carried no particular meaning save that they were made by others of his kind. Headlights and taillights moved slowly on the distant hills. The winking red lights of airliners tracked placidly across the moonlit sky, and the faint echoes of their engines reverberated among the many hills and valleys that was the earth below.

For one small moment, the length of a held breath, Jason could imagine himself alone in the world, just him on his board as it rolled along moonlit streets lined with slumbering faces. The yards he passed were dotted with the dark blobs of trees and shrubbery, concealing the homes there behind the flowing cloaks of shadows. Save for the occasional porch light all was in darkness, windows mostly blank at this hour; or at best, softly lit behind shades or curtains, lights only, not eyes watching, not thoughts judging, not the places of other people at all. There was a fantasy element here, if one chose to see it, and Jason could easily squint a little and imagine a world different from the one he knew so well. A world of possibilities, perhaps, where dreams came true and the mysteries of life were far more accessible to observation and understanding, and to solving.

Where the faces he met could be more than just pictures on his bedroom wall.

He smiled, feeling the sense of relaxation that usually came over him on these late night jaunts. This was why he did it, mostly. Sure, the exertion served to tire him, and make it easier to fall sleep. But the truest benefit was to his head - the inside of it - where the passing breeze seemed to carry away the doubts and insecurities of the day, and leave behind a peace and a quiet which stilled his thoughts and brought sleep closer to hand. No one was watching him as he passed. No one cared that he did. The world belonged just to him, if just for this lone moment in midnight time.

He passed several crossroads that showed the headlights or taillights of late travelers, but none were focused on him. He moved on, uncaring and unobserved, and soon found himself skirting the end of the shopping district. With a start he saw where he was, where he was going, and had to laugh. Mantanza was just down the block. The skatepark would be empty at this hour, but there were no fences, no walls, no one to tell him he couldn't visit. That he had intended to come here all along, he now realized. This was where his unrest had started earlier that day, here was where it needed to be dealt with this night.

He used a convenient driveway to come up onto the sidewalk, and rolled down its length to the entrance of the park. Lights on tall poles marked the corners of the large lot, but had there been no moon, the course itself would now lay mostly in darkness. The lights in the corners each lit some part of the lot, but the center was only visible by the white light of the moon.

Probably, the county figured that a well-lit course would be a nighttime draw to skaters, and people that didn't skate almost surely viewed it as a purely daylight activity. Besides, people in the park at night would be a nuisance, don't you know? It might cause problems. It wasn't normal.

He gave a soft laugh at that thought as he turned into the park and rolled down the sidewalk to the bench he had sat upon earlier with Snark and Kat and Truck Leoni. He stepped off and popped his board and caught it, and laid it face down on the bench as he sat beside it. He let his gaze rove out over the park, taking in the absence of motion, the absence of life. It was quiet here just now. There was a stillness here unlike any other - the stillness of hard concrete reposing in the moonlight. The park itself was a construct, poured and molded to fit a purpose, the product of designers and fabricators and people with vision.

The life of a place like this came from the people that used it. The people that loved it. The people that lived a part of their lives here every chance they got.

It was really sinking in now that what Snark had said earlier was true. Mantanza was a special place. A place of freedom, a place of dreams. Like Jason's grandparent's cabin up in the mountains, the skate park was one step removed from the harsh realities of the world. This was a place where nothing mattered but the wheels beneath your feet, and how you made them do your bidding. The rigid firmness of the concrete, the sly seduction of gravity, would serve to pull you down if you let them. If you didn't know them, and their ways. There was a primitive urge in people to run and to fly - to be in motion - and here was a place where that urge could be let out to play.

Jason closed his eyes and sat back, enjoying the stillness. Why couldn't all of life be so calm and relaxing? This tranquility was a feeling everyone should have, one that was portable, and went everywhere with them. That it needed to be sought out showed the people were doing something wrong managing their daily lives. Such tranquility should be built into everyone.

Again, Ray's face came to mind. This time, despite its beauty, he was able to examine it without being drawn in. Yes, it was beautiful. Ray was gorgeous. But now he saw that that was the only thing he knew for certain about the boy - that his own eyes loved to see him.

Was Ray gay? Jason had no way of knowing. Even if he was, a guy that looked like that surely had a boyfriend already. And even if he was gay, and free, and looking for someone, why would he be interested in Jason? Their brief meeting had been totally negative, with nothing to suggest that pursuing it might improve things. Nothing to suggest that being with Ray could ever happen.

Jason sighed to himself, and gave a small shake to his head at his own foolishness. Another infatuation. Another crush that would never mean a damn thing. A pretty face, that tantalized his eyes, and that was all.

He heard a sound then, and opened his eyes. The unmistakable grind of wheels on concrete came to him, muted with distance. His eyes moved to follow the sound, and suddenly there was motion, down towards the plaza end of the course. He leaned forward and stared in amazement.

Someone else was here.

He watched as an indistinct shape moved in the moonlight, turned towards him, and became the outline of a human being. It lifted up and down, grinding along rails and benches, the sounds he was hearing altering in pitch to fit the circumstances. The figure made a circuit of the left side of the plaza end of the park, then went out of sight as it took one of the shortcuts back to the start.

Who--?

Who would be here at this time of night?

But the moment the thought appeared, he realized it was stupid. He was here, wasn't he? Sure, he'd never come here at night before now. But for all he knew, some other skater, or even skaters, came here every night to have the place to themselves.

But then that thought bounced, and he looked at it again. No. Without the full moon as a guide, the whole center of the park would be too dark to skate in. It would be impossible.

It was the full moon that made all the difference. The light of day, at midnight. It had to be someone taking advantage of the bright night, just as he was.

The more he considered it, the more he realized what a rare night this actually was. There was one full moon each month. And not all of them occurred at night. Some were daytime events, mostly washed out by the sun. Even the nighttime moonrise times varied, with some occurring way too early or late to be useful. He'd read somewhere that even when the moon looked full to the eye, two days on either side of the actual night of the true full moon, it was only giving back half the light it would return on that night of nights. That left just the one night of really bright light each month, and not always at night, and not always with clear skies to see it. Rare.

Jason surveyed the park, realized it really was bright enough to actually skate with a minimum of hazard. The moon was directly above, shining down even into the bowls and walled courses. The park was perfectly visible, completely free of any possibility of shadows.

Whoa. An entire skatepark, for one person! One night only, folks! Get your tickets now!

He laughed. Or for two people. Was that cool, or what?

So who could it be?

Jason stood, picked up his board, and dropped it, stepped onto it, and pushed off. He glided across the concrete, heading for the lane to the plaza end of the course. The moonlight provided excellent clarity for things that were close to him, and fell off in resolution with distance. Yet it was more than enough light to skate by.

He also saw then that shadows were possible. The moonlight streaming down from nearly directly overhead now was strong enough to leave a weak blob of the stuff directly under his feet, which moved along with him as if alive, the movements of his arms giving it ghostly wings as he used them to balance. It wasn't nearly enough to interfere with his eyesight, though, and he ignored it as he moved closer to where he had seen the other skater.

There was another flash of movement ahead, a grind of wheels, and then that other came into view again, coming towards him, barreling along at a pretty good clip as he hit the rails and benches. Jason was much closer this time, and got a better look, and he felt his breath go out with surprise. The other skater wore a reversed cap, just like he did, and looked to be wearing a white tank top and green shorts. An image came instantly to mind, one from earlier in the day, of Ray as he glided down a railing, clad in white tank top and green shorts, his teeth flashing white in the sun.

Could it be?

Before he could stop himself, Jason shot an arm up and yelled. "Hey!"

The other skater looked up and spied him then, and slid hastily to a stop. Jason dropped a foot to the pavement and stopped, too, and the two of them stared at each other across the moonlit concrete. The other skater's face was just a white blob, though, and try as he might, Jason couldn't make out any recognizable features.

But there is familiarity in more than looks. There was something recognizable in the way the other skater stood. Maybe how he held himself. That it was a guy and not a girl seemed plain, some subtle clue in the body language of the other just saying so.

But the longer Jason looked, the more certain he became that this was someone he had seen before. Ray!

Without warning, the other skater took off, leaned into a turn, and headed down one of the shortcuts back to the other side of the course. Without even thinking Jason pushed himself into motion and quickly followed, turning into the shortcut as the other skater vanished around a curve between two concrete walls ahead. Jason's left foot smacked the concrete hard as he gained speed, and then he was giving chase.

The skater ahead was on the move, handling his board like a real pro. Jason felt his heart race as he tried to keep up, but was immediately aware that the other skater was better than he was. But a sort of desperation had come over him now, a refusal to let Ray get away again without at least speaking to him. He rode the rises and dips in the course, leaning into them to accent his speed, and followed the other skater as he made his way around to the head of the course.

They reached the first, shallow bowl, and the other skater slid around the rim at a speed that made Jason grunt in amazement. The other came off the slide and forced his board around on the curved side of the bowl, and raced away down the end ramp towards the big bowl beyond. Jason followed, nearly lost it coming off the rim rail, but managed to hold onto his balance and ride the curve around just quickly enough to make the ramp himself.

At this point Jason was going faster than he'd ever taken the course before. He was immediately aware he had no helmet, and that a crash now might be serious. He'd learned to roll with falls, to convert the motion of the fall into something less harmful to the body; but there were no guarantees now that he was so far outside his normal comfort zone. The skater ahead of him wasn't wearing a helmet, either. The risks of him getting hurt were the same.

It was too late to stop. Jason rocketed out into the big bowl and rode around its circumference higher on the wall than he had ever done before. The other skater was already hitting the up ramp, and Jason couldn't shift his eyes for fear of losing it all and falling. He came around and was facing the other ramp, saw the first skater hit the top and sail out of sight. Jason gritted his teeth and followed, the board leaving the concrete at the top as he caught air and came down again. He waved his arms frantically, held onto his balance, and caught the long incline that would give him enough speed to climb the last ramp back up to ground level. There was no question in his mind that he was going fast enough; he'd never gone this fast on a board before!

He hit the up ramp, emerged into the shallow bowl there, and just caught sight of the first skater as he disappeared over the rim. Jason hit the rim himself, became airborne, and landed with a jolt that started him into a wobble he just couldn't counter. The board slid and he came off of it running, fell, and rolled a few times, instinctively absorbing the impact with his upper arms and shoulders. Finally, he slid to a stop on the concrete, the world spinning around him.

For a moment it felt like his eyes were revolving in their sockets. But then he realized he was no longer moving, was in fact laying on his back on the concrete, and that nothing was in the kind of pain that might indicate a broken bone. He gasped, took in a deep breath, and understood then that he was all in one piece. He had not slammed his head down on impact, and the shoulder rolls had probably kept him from a case of road rash on his hands and arms that he'd still have been feeling a month from now.

He stared up into the face of the moon, which stared back with a certain disappointment that couldn't be missed. All I can do is light that place, Jason. You have to be the one that rides it without falling on your ass!

He smiled at that...and then heard the sounds of wheels approaching. He turned his head, and watched as the other skater came back his way and stopped about ten feet away. Again they looked at each other in silence; again, the other's face was an indistinct blob of white in the moonlight.

"You okay?" asked a familiar voice.

Jason sucked in his breath, recognition hitting him like a blow. "Snark?"

The other boy leaned forward, shock now registering in his stance. "Goof?"

Snark stepped off his board and came over at a run, and knelt next to Jason. "Aw, shit! Are you hurt?"

Jason stared up into his friend's face. "No. I don't...I don't think so."

This close, the tank top Snark was wearing was obviously yellow, not white. And the shorts weren't green, but a sort of rust color, or maybe even a brown. The moonlight distorted colors...and maybe a few other things, too.

Jason laid his head back onto the concrete and closed his eyes. It wasn't Ray. How could he have thought it would be?

Snark put a hand on his shoulder, squeezed it comfortingly. "What are you doing here?"

Jason took another breath, opened his eyes, and slowly sat up.

Snark converted the squeeze of his hand into a helpful assist, and then shook his head. "Man! I couldn't figure out who would be here at this time of night! And when you chased me, I couldn't believe you kept up." A soft laugh filled the night. "Either you're better than I ever thought you were, or I ain't as good as I thought I was!"

Jason managed a laugh of his own. "Are you serious? I nearly killed myself keeping up with you!"

"You seemed pretty good to me!" And then the good humor left Snark's face in the company of a sigh. "I'm so glad you weren't hurt. I'd never get over that." He shook his head again. "What are you doing here?"

And just that fast Jason didn't have an answer. Not one that he could share completely, anyway. "Um...I couldn't sleep."

There was another small laugh, and Snark's head bobbed up and down. "I know what that's like, believe me. So you came out to skate a little, 'cause you knew it would make you tired. And you wound up here."

Jason stared at the other boy, and nodded. "You do know."

"Sure I do. I skate at night all the time." Snark tossed a hand at the sky. "I only come here when the moon's out like it is tonight, though. Most of the time I just run over to the school and zip around the parking lot under the lights."

Jason gaped at that. "I've never seen you there!"

"You, too? No...wait. Your house is close to our school. Munson...the high school, I mean. I'm closer to Burnett."

"The elementary school?" Jason laughed. "I never even thought of going there!"

Snark sighed. "Can you get up?" He rose a bit, tugging at Jason's shoulder, and helped him to stand. Jason rolled his shoulders, wiggled his hips. moved his legs. Nothing seemed to hurt more than what could be accounted for by a few soon-to-be bruises.

"Okay?"

"I guess." Jason took a careful step, then another, and then relaxed, and walked over and retrieved his board.

Snark turned and went back for his, and then returned to Jason's side. "Come on and sit a little, okay? We can talk." He smiled. "Listening to me for a while might make you sleepy."

Jason couldn't help returning the smile. "Okay. Where?'

"Well, that bench we were on earlier was okay."

Jason agreed, and they walked back to the sidewalk and found seats on the bench.

And then Jason just didn't know what to say next. He hadn't expected to meet anyone here, let alone Snark. There was an odd pleasure in knowing that the other boy had restless nights like he did, but now he wasn't sure what to do with that knowledge.

Snark gave out a masterful sigh, and leaned back hard against the backrest, his eyes finding the moon in the sky. "Pretty, isn't it?"

Jason looked up, distracted away from his doubts. "Yeah. I was thinking earlier that there might be one night a month it was bright enough that a guy could come here and skate."

"Not even that," Snark disagreed. "I've been able to skate here at night just three times in the last five years, counting tonight. And the other two times, clouds came over and killed it before I was able to get home." He laughed. "Walking is so retro."

Jason smiled at that, and turned to observe the other boy. "So you've been here at night before? You never said anything about it."

"And have everybody else show up?" Snark blew out a disgusted breath. "I wasn't going to ruin it, Goof. This was like my special secret night, you know?" He sighed again, and looked around the quiet park. "Besides, it has to be just like it is tonight, or there just isn't enough light to be safe. I land on my butt often enough as it is, without trying to skate in the dark."

Jason nodded, perfectly able to understand that.

"So, why couldn't you sleep?" Snark asked suddenly. "Was it because of what happened today with those guys?"

Jason was stunned that the other boy could know, and then even more stunned when he found himself nodding. "Well..." he began quickly, and then trailed off, at a loss for how to proceed.

Snark was quiet a moment, then nodded. "I saw the way it was. Something between you and that guy, Ray." He turned to look at Jason. "You know him from somewhere, don't you?"

Jason automatically shook his head. "I never saw him before today."

The other boy frowned at that. "Then what? Something was going on."

What could Jason say? That he'd been struck dumb by Ray's good looks, and fallen in lust with him?

"I don't know," he said. "It was weird. I just didn't like that he walked off like he did. I felt like...I felt like we weren't done talking, or something."

It sounded lame, even to Jason. He was aware of Snark watching him, but sent his gaze out across the park rather than meet the other boy's eyes.

Snark suddenly took a stunned breath. "Oh, shit." He breathed. "You liked him."

Jason had to look over then. Snark's face, painted with white moonlight, looked astonished. But the truth was there, reflected in the other boy's eyes.

Jason licked his lips, unable to argue further. "Yeah. I liked him."

Snark leaned closer. "You're gay? I don't believe it."

The cat was out of the bag now, and Jason felt no desire to chase it. "Yeah. I'm gay."

Snark shook his head. "What about Kat?"

Jason gave a tired laugh. "What about her?"

"She...she's been chasing you for a year, dude. And you've been playing the game with her. I've seen it."

"Uh uh." Jason shook his head. "I do like Kat, but just as a friend. She thinks there can be more. I don't."

Snark sat back and just stared at Jason. "Oh, man."

Jason gave a big sigh, and crossed his hands in his lap. Now he might even lose his best friend, too. He should have stayed in bed. "You like her, don't you? Now you know I'm not the competition, you can make your move."

Snark seemed to ignore that remark completely. He leaned closer again. "How come you never told me?"

But before Jason could even answer, Snark leaned even closer. "How come you don't have a boyfriend?"

Jason leaned back a little, and Snark saw that and retreated a bit. "Sorry."

Jason nodded. "It's not like there's an available guy on every street corner. I haven't met anyone yet. I guess...I guess I haven't really been looking." He blew out a frustrated breath. "I don't even know."

Snark watched him a while in silence, and then leaned closer again. "A cute guy like you should have a boyfriend."

The words rolled over Jason's thoughts, and he turned to stare at his friend. "Huh?"

Snark took a deep breath, let it out very slowly, and nodded. "You heard me."

Jason just watched the other boy, the words Snark had just used kind of echoing around inside his head. Snark watched him back, plainly waiting.

Jason licked his lips. "You think I'm cute?" He nearly laughed after he said it, it sounded so odd to his own ears.

Snark nodded, and offered a little smile. "I always have. Ever since that day I saw you trying to catch air and not getting it."

Jason gave a little shake of his head, unable to process where this was going "You're not telling me you're gay, are you?"

A frown crossed Snark's face, and for a moment he looked down. "I don't know what I am." He raised his eyes again. "I like Kat. I like a lot of girls. But I've also liked other guys." He shrugged. "Like you."

Jason sat back a little and stared, waiting for the sudden smile, the clue that it was all a joke. But Snark simply watched him back, waiting.

"Why didn't you ever say something?" Jason finally managed to get out.

"I didn't know. I thought you were straight, Goof." The intensity in Snark's eyes was plain. "Being friends is better than nothing."

Jason watched a moment longer, and then smiled. "My name is Jason."

A smile crawled across the other boy's face. "Mine's Damian."

Jason sighed. "I know."

Snark watched him a moment longer, and then gave a little shrug. "So. You like this guy Ray, huh?"

Jason frowned, seeing again in his mind's eye the face of the boy he'd only met briefly that morning. Or the previous morning, since it was after midnight. He smiled at his mind's insistence on this correct bit of chronology.

Snark took the smile as an affirmative, and nodded. "I can help you find him. I know who he is."

Jason stared, stunned all over again. "You know him?"

"Yeah. His name's Ray Amuro. I saw him at a CASL event last summer." Snark looked unhappy at the admission. "He's good."

Jason shook his head. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Another unhappy look transited Snark's features. "I didn't know who he was when we were standing in front of him. I knew he looked familiar, but it didn't register until I heard his name. After that, even. And then, it just didn't seem to matter. After I was such a jerk, I mean."

Jason's mind went back to the confrontation with the visiting skaters, and replayed the way Snark had acted, which had seemed so confusing at the time. Oh.

"You were defending me," Jason said, smiling.

"Huh?"

"When Ray got up in my face, you were defending me."

Snark blinked. "He didn't get up in your face."

"You know what I mean. He was upset that I was taking his picture. You didn't like his attitude about it."

"No. I didn't."

"You were defending me," Jason repeated, charmed by the idea.

Snark grinned then. "Okay, I was. Is that what you want to hear?"

Oddly, it was just what Jason wanted to hear. For a moment he was back in his room, surrounded by walls covered with pictures. Two year's worth, just about every cute skater Mantanza had to offer. And most prominent there, represented much more than any other, was Snark. Snark smiling, Snark in every aspect of skating, Snark standing among others, laughing, smiling, carrying on. Jason had fantasized about the boy, kissed him in his dreams and been with him in his imaginings; but never once had he felt that such a relationship would be possible, and never once had he even considered trying to pursue one. It had been solely a mind thing, unable to move beyond wishful thinking. Snark was a friend, and just a friend, because as far as Jason had known, Snark would not have been interested in anything more than that.

But now...

"How come you don't have a guy?" he suddenly asked.

Snark's eyes widened. "Um. Well --"

Jason leaned forward. "Because you had no idea, not even a little one, that the guy you wanted would be interested back."

Snark considered that, but only a moment. "Yeah."

Jason closed his eyes, the possibilities suddenly laying out before him. What a night this had become!

He opened his eyes, and found the other boy smiling at him. "What are you thinking about now, Goof?"

There was fondness in the way Snark asked him, and Jason realized that that fondness had been there all along.

"I'm interested," he said, smiling.

Snark eyed him. "In what?"

"In you, stupid."

Snark's eyes widened, he blinked...and then he smiled. "Really?"

"Yes. Really."

A look of delight appeared on Snark's features, and Jason felt slightly breathless at its appearance.

"Well," Snark said then, "what about Ray?"

What about Ray? Jason saw again that boy's beautiful face, but somehow it had lost some of it's power over him. A face was just a facade, really. Something to look at. Not nearly as important as the person that lived behind it. Seeing could never hold a candle to touching. And that's what he wanted now.

He sighed, and let Ray's face slide away from his mind's eye. A new ideal had taken its place, one that now seemed far more attainable. Far more real.

Sometimes you don't know what you are lucky enough to have, even when it's staring you right in the face.

Jason sighed. "He's got a really nice face. But...I don't know him, and I doubt I ever will."

Snark grinned, his delight plain to see. "I think I saw he had a girlfriend at that CASL meet, anyway."

Jason was watching Snark's face, and could see the joke coming. "Yeah?"

"Uh huh. Big girl, with tats." Snark grinned. "Smoked a cigar, too."

Jason laughed, and leaned a little closer to the other boy. "And muscles out to here, I'll bet."

"Yup." Snark smiled at him, his eyes so bright as he slowly leaned forward. "She probably lays bricks for a living."

"Her mother's a mafia hitman," Jason said, not really paying attention to the words, intent on Snark's eyes as he leaned closer again.

"And she eats roadkill for breakfast," Snark whispered, leaning closer, too.

They were just inches apart now, almost close enough to feel the heat. Jason took in every line, every curve of the face before him, and could now see how those features added up to the person that lived within. The beautiful person that he had always known lived within this face.

"What are we doing?" Snark whispered.

Jason leaned a little bit closer, and also whispered. "I'm wondering if kissing you will be as wonderful as I always imagined."

The moon played tiny, joyful games in Snark's eyes as he leaned in the last few inches, and said with the quiet of the night around them, "Here. I'll show you."

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This story was inspired by a picture challenge on another site. The picture can be viewed at this link: http://iomfats.org/storyshelf/contests/2020-sofa/