From Afar - 4. Chapter 4

That night, I had a vivid dream. I was standing on a beautiful hill, one that seemed somehow familiar to me, even though I didn't ever remember seeing it before. It was spring in my dream, a verdant spring unlike anything I'd seen since moving to Tucson. Flowers were blooming all around me, several of which I'd only ever seen back home, and the grass was lush and full of life. Something seemed off about this... but my mind refused to work.

In the grass, sitting in front of me, looking off into the distance, was someone I felt I should recognize. Something about him, even though I couldn't see his face, was very familiar... but again, I couldn't get my mind to focus on him for very long. Instead, I stared off in the distance, following the direction of his gaze.

Far off, practically at the edge of my vision, I saw a snow-covered peak, and shivered. Something about the snow... [i]no, ice, the ice[/i], my mind corrected me suddenly... caught my attention, and not in a positive way. I couldn't figure it out... it was as if something about that icy peak should've been familiar to me.

Suddenly, the boy seated at my feet turned to look at me, and a flood of memories returned to me...

[i]"Let me help you!" a strange, yet somehow familiar, voice called.

I spun around quickly, almost falling once more, seeing a man, barely older than me, reaching out to me, as though to help me... or embrace me. He seemed completely untouched by the dizzying winds. He was extremely cute, and seemed to care, concern shining in his warm crystal-blue eyes, his flaxen-colored hair framing his face perfectly...[/i]

The boy before me was identical in every way to the one from the memory, but I couldn't figure out when this memory occurred, or how it came to be lost to me. The face, even outside of the newly-recovered memory, was so familiar to me that it almost hurt, like a lost promise.

"Damien," he said softly. "Much has occurred that is lost to you. Much of that was as much to protect you as to protect me... but that's neither here nor there." He paused, standing and taking me into a warm embrace, my memory telling me this wasn't the first such time this man had held me, though I still couldn't recall anything about him. "Now, I come to you to tell you it is time to move on, to find love again," he continued. "You have locked your heart away, afraid to feel, much as you were when I first met you. This cannot be; there is one who needs you, and your love, as much as you need his."

He pulled back, kissing me gently on the lips. "I give you your heart back," he said, after the kiss ended. "You must know love again, if you are to protect the one you care about. If you do not love him, truly give that love to him and let him be loved, then he will be in danger."

I shook my head. "Who are you?" I asked, confused. "How do I know you, but not remember you?"

He chuckled. "This isn't important, not now. Later, when time is not your enemy, I will reveal what I can... but," he continued, turning serious, "some things which are hidden from you are that way to protect you. I hid a lot of pain and sorrow from you, which would do you no good if restored."

He smiled kindly, and hugged me to him once more. "Now, it is time to wake up and rejoin the world. You have a busy day ahead of you. Take care, my love..."

~*~

I woke up to the first light of day streaming in across my face, and I started to stretch, then stopped, confused. I felt someone lying against me, curled up against my chest... then memory kicked in. Joey. The most beautiful boy in the world, and he was lying in my arms. He'd apparently turned over in his sleep, as his face was mere inches from mine. I gazed on him fondly, but though he was breathtakingly beautiful, there was just something missing while he was asleep.

His spirit, the light of his eyes, was what entranced me more than anything, and while he was dreaming, the light was elsewhere. Still, even in sleep, I wanted to softly kiss him... but I felt that I couldn't. No, I couldn't steal something like that, a kiss, from him. He meant too much to me, even though I barely knew him.

As I watched him, he slowly started to stir, twisting a bit, and I felt his morning hardness press against my thigh, immediately triggering my own reaction. I gently rubbed his back with one hand, feeling him come awake -- again, as if his spirit was returning to his body from the land of slumber, reforming into the person I was falling for.

"Good morning," I whispered into his ear, and he stretched slowly, turning to smile at me... then froze, his smile changed to a look of horror, as he realized he was grinding his hardon into me, pulling away quickly.

"I... I'm sorry," he stammered, blushing furiously.

"It's OK," I said softly, reaching down to rearrange my own reaction. "We're both guys, it happens." I got up, not really going out of my way to make my situation obvious, but not trying to hard to hide it. I started rummaging for clothes to wear today, though I kept noticing out of the corner of my eye his attention on me -- rather, on a certain part of me -- and the attention was certainly keeping me excited.

"So, today," I started, wanting to pull his attention away from my crotch, even as I pulled on a pair of clean jean shorts and continued hunting for a t-shirt, "I think we should get your stuff from your old house... I don't have much to spare, and besides, it's your stuff." He didn't look too pleased, but he nodded slowly. "Then," I continued as I pulled a black t-shirt from one of my drawers, glanced to see it was the one with a silver-blue dragon on the front, and wrestled into it, "if we have time, we can go by your friend's house to get your school stuff." He started to protest, but I cut him off. "I want to be there, in case your stepfather or anyone else tries to start something with you. I told you before, I won't let anyone hurt you."

He sighed. "I guess I don't have a choice in the matter," he said, with a hint of bitterness in his voice.

"If you don't want to go over to your friend's house today, we won't," I reassured him. "But you [i]do[/i] need your clothes and stuff, so we're going there. After that, I'll let you decide, but either way, I'll be there for you, but I can't do that if you won't let me. I don't want anything else to happen to you." I smiled, stepping back over to the bed and leaning across, hugging him to me. He returned the smile, kissing me softly on the lips.

As soon as his lips touched mine, all my thoughts flew out the window in favor of the sensations of that simple contact, and I pulled back a little bit, looking into his eyes. I wasn't sure, but in his eyes, I thought I saw... something, a feeling I hadn't felt in a long time. I leaned in once more, returning the kiss with feeling, and when his lips parted slightly, I followed suit, our kiss gaining in passion and intensity quickly.

Within moments, I was fully back in bed, our tongues wrestling as my hands explored his still-bare back, marveling in the texture of his perfect skin, my nose filled with his scent, a strange spicy-sweet aroma that threatened to overwhelm my mind. His hands quickly sought the skin under my shirt, climbing up my back and following my actions.

I broke the kiss and simply laid there, his head dropping down to lie on my chest, lightly kissing my chest through my shirt. After a few moments like that, torn between breaking the moment and getting him ready for the day, he slowly disentangled himself from me and got up, giving me a chance to return the favor from earlier and stare at his hardon, trapped as it was in his briefs, which were tight enough -- or he was hard enough -- that not much was left to the imagination. He was quite long, probably at least 8" or 9" if I was any judge, but not terribly thick. Like the rest of his body, it looked quite perfect -- well, from what I could see, with the thin veil of cotton keeping it from my full sight.

He dressed quickly, and I got up and make a couple of bagels quickly, one for each of us. He came out and we ate them, chatting as we ate. He told me it was likely his stepfather would be at work... which I hoped, since confronting him could be the hardest part of all...