Chapter 2 Longingly, Brian was watching fins disappearing beneath the surface of the water far away in the shadow of the moon. This was exactly why Brian had to keep the old castle, here he felt he belonged for the first time in his life. He could stand here for hours, only to watch all the colors of the ocean, and all the different fins appear and then disappear across the water. Without thinking about it, he curved his hand around his right wrist, where he wore his shell-bracelet. It was a gift he got from his grandfather when he was born. His grandmother told him about it once, when he couldn’t sleep. She told him the story that belonged to the bracelet. Brian never in his life believed in fairy tales, but the one his grandmother told him when he was only seven, he always had believed, and he always would. He sighed and let himself fall backwards. He stretched his arms out and felt the still warm sand under his fingers. Brian loved just lying on the warm sand, without a care in the world, and to finally, after long hours of work, relax and think about what he wanted in his life. He smiled when he thought about his son. He was so proud of him already, he was as careless as every seven year old should be, not like his father was when he was that age, always watching what he was doing as not to get the attention of his father, and therefore, his father’s fist. Gus knew that he was loved, and always tried to get Brian’s attention whenever he was near him. He never wanted a son, and therefore never wanted to be a father, but if he could change things, he wouldn’t. He never thought he could love someone as much as he did Gus. Then there was Kinnetik, his own advertising firm, where HE was the boss, for a change. He had the most respected, most popular, and therefore, most successful agency he could ever hope for. Nevertheless, he lived for his breaks where he could come back here and finally relax, because, even with all that he’d made in his life, he wasn’t happy (with his life). Of course, Gus was his pride and joy, but his nights were long, and sometimes he longed for another man’s touch. Not just a trick’s touch, no, a touch that he would feel in every fiber of his being. A touch that would make him whole. He sighed and closed his eyes. Maybe, one day he would meet the man of his dreams, and somehow he knew that he would meet him here. Here, in his safe haven were he could be himself, and not in the backroom of Babylon. °*°*°*°*°*° From another spot on the beach, Justin was watching the man. He couldn’t stay away from the human kind. He didn’t know why, but he had to come back to find out what it was about them that let him forget everything his father, and all the elders, had tried to teach him all his life. Justin felt his heart beat faster every time he looked at the man. He looked so much like Gus that it had nearly scared him away, until he saw that this time, the man was wearing the shell-bracelet. So, did it mean that he was the one? Justin sighed and slowly, without making a noise, slipped off the rock he was resting on and dived under the water, so he could get a closer at the man without notice. He surfaced slowly out of the water and crawled closer to the man. He had a desperate craving to see the man up close. It appeared to Justin that the man had fallen asleep on the still sun-warmed sand. He didn’t notice the sand scratching his skin, or his colorful tail. He only had eyes for the man lying in front of him. °*°*°*°*°*° Brian felt the other presence as soon as Justin had surfaced, but he’d kept his eyes closed, to give the other one the chance to make his presence known. He heard the other one catching his breath when he came closer, but he never heard footsteps and that confused him to no end. Why wasn’t the other one walking, when it was so much noisier to crawl? When he felt a hand touch his cheek, he opened his eyes and stared into the deepest blue eyes he’d ever seen in his life. He wanted to say something to the beautiful blond, when he saw him back off frightened, but at the same time, he felt a knot in his throat. For the first time in his life, he didn’t know what to say to another man. When the blond crawled further away, Brian reached out and grabbed his hand. ”Don’t be afraid of me, I won’t hurt you,” Brian said fast, when he felt the other man’s hand tremble under his touch. “Not intentionally at least...” Justin slowly looked up from the sand into the warm hazel eyes of the stranger. He nodded and crawled back closer. Somehow the man’s touch felt right, and he felt warm all over. It was a feeling he’d never experienced before, not even with the flat tummy woman. What was her name again? “Lindsay”, Justin said out loud and immediately put his hand in front of his mouth. “Oh, you know Lindsay?” Brian said and frowned. Why did Lindsay know about such a beautiful blond, and never considered telling him? Okay, the boy wasn’t his usual pray, but who said, that for once, he wasn’t capable of changing his ways? Especially if he had such a beautiful excuse?