HALF AN HOUR LATER

"Yeah, he's got blond hair and blue eyes...and a big bubble butt!" Hunter told the Trinidad police officers, describing his missing friend to them. Daphne rolled her eyes at Hunter's ridiculous behaviour. He seemed to get even more stupid when he was nervous. Nevertheless, the officers wrote down every word they spat out about Justin and his absence.

"So do you think you'll find him easily?" Mr. Christianson asked the officers, concerned for the usually well-behaved student. Plus, his ass was on the line here. If anything terrible happened to this kid while he was supposed to be under his supervision, he could be in deep-shit trouble.

One of the officers nodded and said, "It's more likely that he'll find you. We're familiar with this sort of thing. Teenagers like to run off, but they always find their way back."

Daphne shook her head and spoke up, "No, that's not like Justin. Come on, Mr. Christianson, you know how much of a goody-goody nerd he is. He would never just run off...and not come back! I'm really worried about him!", she declared with heartfelt emotion. She and Hunter looked at their teacher and at the officers expectantly, waiting to see if they'd finally listen to her. She just knew something wasn't right. Justin was in trouble.

TEN MINUTES LATER, ACROSS THE LOBBY

Michael snapped his cell phone shut and sighed. "Fuck!" he muttered out in annoyance. Ben put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "The damn call didn't go through again! It's like him not to answer, but not for his phone to be off all together. Where the fuck is he?!"

Ben continued to rub his new lover's back soothingly. "Hey, I'm sure everything's alright", he said.

Though Michael was grateful that the gorgeous man was trying his best to comfort him, he just knew something wasn't right. "I don't know, Ben", he responded. "This time I'm not so sure..."

"Still no sign of Brian?" Melanie asked as she and Lindsay walked towards the boys, their arms around each other. Ben shook his head while Michael stared at his cell phone hopelessly. "Eh, I'm sure he's just out at some trick's bungalow after fucking the night away", she said shrugging. Lindsay nodded, agreeing with her girlfriend.

Michael shook his head, exasperated. "I don't think so, ladies. I think something might be up...like he might be in actual trouble or something", he told his friends. Melanie snorted at this and Lindsay couldn't help but chuckle along with her. Michael heaved out a breath, unimpressed at the immaturity of his two friends.

"Good morning my darlings!" Emmett sang as he pranced over to his friends, pulling along a very satisfied looking Ted Schmidt. He gave each of his friends a kiss on the cheek when he reached them.

"Hey, we were wondering where you two went off to last night", Ben greeted the pair with enthusiasm. Mel and Lindsay nodded, knowing smiles on their faces. Michael couldn't help but smile.

"Oh, well Teddy and I were...getting to know each other better. A lot better", he said cheekily, making his friends laugh while Ted grinned triumphantly. "Now, what were you all discussing when we came over here?" he pried.

"Michael thinks Brian's gone missing", Lindsay informed Emmett and Ted.

"He didn't make it back last night?" Ted asked. Everyone shook their heads, different expressions on their faces; Melanie had her eyebrows raised, Lindsay shrugged, Ben was neutral and Michael's brow was creased in concern.

"The girls here think he's just off with some trick still", Ben said.  

"Well maybe he is", Ted offered.

Michael shook his head and turned his body so he was completely facing Ted and Emmett. "Look, I get why you would all think that, but Brian's my best friend. I live with him for Christ-sake. I know him. And this; having his phone switched off and not being here by now...it's not like him", he told his friends.

Emmett nodded, listening to Michael's concerns. "I think Michael's right, ladies and gents. I live with Brian too and he doesn't just disappear without a trace til'...11 in the darn morning" He said, checking his watch.

Melanie shrugged again, still not convinced that there was anything to worry about. "We are on vacation. Maybe he likes to party extra hard in exotic places."

"Argh", Michael huffed, annoyed at the lack of concern the girls were showing for Brian.  

Across the lobby, Daphne's attention was pulled from the police officers when she overheard a pretty interesting conversation from not to far away. "I haven't seen him since before the boat party was raided by the water police. He was talking to some kid. He could be anywhere by now, I guess", a male voice said. The teenage girl turned her head and looked over to see a group of familiar looking young adults standing in a group. It looked like they were discussing something serious. The girl nudged Hunter’s arm to get his attention. "I think those people over there might be able to tell us something about last night. It sounds like they were on the boat too, and I think someone they know is missing as well", she whispered to her friend excitedly.

Hunter followed Daphne's line of vision and smiled when he saw someone he recognised. "Hey, see that muscly guy standing with them?" Daphne nodded in response. "That's my uncle Ben", he told her. 

"No way!” she exclaimed.

"Yeah", Hunter affirmed. "I didn't know he was going to be here when we were. This is so cool!” he continued. "I bet he'd be willing to help us out if I ask him."

Daphne nodded and cleared her throat to gain the attention of her teacher and the officers. The men looked at her expectantly. Smiling nervously, the girl nudged Hunter's arm, silently asking him to explain their thoughts. "I-uh...well m-my uncle Ben's over there with some people and...well, we overheard them talking about the boat party last night and...It sounds like they're missing someone too. I thought...maybe they might have seen Justin or something", he said at a rapid pace.

The police officers nodded, taking his idea into consideration. "That seems plausible", one of the men said, starting to walk across the lobby to the group Hunter pointed to. The others followed closely behind the man. "Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen", the officer began once he'd reached them. "We were wondering if you would be able to tell us anything about that Carnivale Boat Party last night."

The group all raised their eyebrows in surprise at the officer's sudden appearance. "Hunter?" Ben asked, stepping forward once he noticed his nephew. "Hey, kiddo, how are you doin'?" he asked in a friendly matter.

"Hey, uh-um...kinda not that great right now, Ben", Hunter admitted. "See, we were on that boat last night and our friend never came back. We don't know where he is", he explained.

"Wait, what were you doing on that boat, anyway?" Ben inquired.

Hunter cleared his throat nervously and glanced at his peeved off teacher before responding, "That...doesn't really matter right now. We're just worried about our friend."

Michael stepped forward, an idea popping into his head. "Wait a sec, is your friend a blond kid?" he inquired. Daphne and Hunter nodded in unison. "Shit, I think that was the kid I saw Brian-uh, he's our friend by the way, talking to before the party got stopped by the cops. And we don't know where he is either", he told the eagerly listening teens, while one of the officers scribbled down what was being said.

"Oh crap, do you think those two might be...together?" Ted suggested.

Lindsay scoffed and shook her head disapprovingly. "Even after we told him to stay away from the teenagers staying at our hotel", he said.

Mr. Christianson placed his hands on his head and sighed. "Oh God Damn it", he said quietly to himself. If the kid was off with some strange man, anything could have happened to him. Then he really would be in deep shit. This was not looking good at all.

"NO! No", Daphne spoke up. "Justin would never just go off with some random stranger, okay...he's not an idiot, or a risk-taker for that matter." She looked at the police officers and her teacher who did not seem to believe her. The girl sighed and continued, "Okay, I know how this must look, but...Justin wouldn't of...he just didn't, okay. I know he did not wander off with some guy he doesn't even know. That's not Justin. I think something might be really wrong here." Hunter nodded, hanging on his friend's every word.

"I think you're right", Michael agreed. "I might not know your friend, but I certainly know mine. Brian wouldn't harm anyone, and he definitely wouldn't disappear with an underage kid. Even...even if those two were together last night, he would be back by now, and by the sound of it, you're friend would be too. I think...you may be right, young miss. I think they could be in trouble."

Everyone shared looks, Hunter, Daphne and Michael all wanting the people around them to believe them. Finally, after a long moment of silence, one of the police officers spoke up, "Alright. If they're not back by the end of the day, we'll start a search. Now, we just need to get the details of your 'Brian' friend."

Mr. Christianson sighed in relief, but Michael and the two teenagers were not quite satisfied with that answer. Anything could happen between now and then...they all thought. 

MEANWHILE, OUT ON THE CARRIBEAN OCEAN

Brian groaned as he sat up in the dinghy, blinking and shaking his head. Once he was sat upright, the young man opened his eyes completely and looked at his surroundings. "Fuck", he groaned. "It wasn't a dream."

"No it wasn't", an unhappy voice sounded from the other end of the dinghy. Brian turned his head to look at the cranky teenager the voice belonged to. "Have a nice sleep did you?" he asked sarcastically.

Brian shrugged. "Meh, it wasn't half-bad. The rocking of the sea was actually quite soothing", he joked. Justin did not laugh. "Oh, come the fuck on, kid-sorry, I mean Justin. You gotta learn to relax a little, have a laugh", he told the frowning boy.

"Relax?" Justin repeated. "Laugh? How the fuck do you expect me to do that when we're floating on some tiny little life-boat in the middle of fucking nowhere. This piece of shit doesn't even have a damn motor!" he complained. "God, this is absolute shit! What did I ever do to deserve this?!" he said to no one in particular. Brian couldn't help but chuckle at the boy's ravings. Of course, this pissed the teenager off even further. "Oh, what is it?" he demanded.

When it looked like Brian was going to speak, he only laughed even harder. Finally, after a couple more seconds, Brian looked at Justin and said, "You really hit the nail on the head, didn't ya kid? I am well aware that we are totally fucked out here. I'm just trying to lighten up the mood a little, that's all."

"And that's funny how?" Justin demanded.

"You...you're the kid, right? Aren't you supposed to be the one joking about and trying to be all cool about things?" he said through light chuckles.

Justin ignored the fact that he thought that was incredibly cute and responded, "Well, I'll be happy to pass the role of the idiot over to you." Brian laughed again at this remark. "Hey, you're old, right? Doesn't that mean you're supposed to be the serious responsible one?" he teased, an evil smirk on his face.

Brian lightly kicked the boy's foot and laughed as he said, "Hey!" Finally Justin smiled. Gotcha! Brian thought triumphantly. "I'm only 21, dork!" Brian added. "And by serious and responsible, do you mean nerdy and boring?" he teased back.

"I am not nerdy and boring!" Justin shot back lightly, a small smile on his face. "And I am not a dork, either...jerk!"

"Oh, really?" Brian questioned playfully. "Then what's with the nerd satchel you've got there?" he asked, gesturing to Justin's bag, which was seated next to him.

The teenager grabbed his bag and began to open it. "This", he started, "Has everything you could possibly need in it." He opened up his satchel completely and looked around in it. "It's got...water, and sunscreen and bug spray", he said as he rummaged through the bag. Brian began to laugh again, halting Justin's search through his satchel. He looked up at the annoying man and asked, "What?"

"You are such a dork, Justin!" Brian laughed. "Who the heck brings all that shit to a party? I mean, water? What the fuck, man?"

"I'll have you know that getting dehydrated is what gives you a hangover, Mister. I think bringing water to a party is smart. The way you're feeling now, you know, the head-ache you so obviously have...well you wouldn't be feeling that way if you had of eaten something and stayed hydrated last night", Justin informed the laughing man.

Brian scoffed and teased, "Thanks for the morning Public Service Announcement, dweeb."

Justin shook his head. "Alright, let's see what you've got, Mr. 'I'm so cool'", Justin said. "Go on. Got anything that's in anyway useful?" he challenged.

"Alright", Brian accepted the challenge and began rummaging through the pockets of his jacket and his jeans. Grabbing on to something, Brian pulled out a lighter and then a Swiss-army knife. He raised his eyebrows at Justin as the boy eyed the items.

"Okay, alright", Justin said, nodding. "Maybe these things are useful, but who the fuck just carries a knife around with them?" he asked. Brian lifted his hand as if to tell the kid to wait. Justin was interested now. It seemed the obnoxious man had something else in his pockets. Brian's hands halted when he felt something familiar. The brunet removed his left hand from his pocket and revealed a small tube of lube. Justin frowned, not recognising the item right away while Brian freed his other hand from his right pocket. He opened that hand and burst out laughing when he saw that it was a folded up sleeve of condoms. Justin realised what Brian was holding after staring at the man's hands for a couple more milliseconds. "Oh, fuck sake!" He said. "That's just gross. As if that shit's gonna help us at all."

Brian looked at the items in his hands and smirked. "You never, know, Sunshine", he said, looking directly at the kid. "We just might need these", he joked.

Justin scrunched up his face and turned bright red. "Oh, fucking gross, Brian! As if!" He kicked the man's leg as he spoke in embarrassed disgust.

"Relax, would you? I'm only joking", he assured the boy through his laughter. "My buddy Emmett put all these condoms in here as a joke. I remember now. I think there must be like...30, or even 40 in here", he said inspecting the plastic sleeve.

Justin relaxed a tad, but a blush still remained on his cheeks. Deep down, he knew he'd love to have sex with a total hottie like Brian. But there was no way he was going to admit to that. Not even to himself. He would just push the thoughts down deep, trapping them in his gut. He looked back at the man when he remembered something from a few seconds earlier. “By the way...Sunshine?" he asked, referring to the nickname Brian had used for him.

"Yeah, I just thought I'd give you a nickname. I figured 'Sunshine' was better than 'Nerd', right?" Brian explained, keeping the real reason he'd opted to call the boy 'Sunshine' to himself. He couldn't let the kid know it was because he was beautiful, radiant, even, his smile warm and bright as...sunshine.  Even when the blond was angry, Brian thought of him this way. And there was no way he was going to tell Justin this. That was far too...lesbionic.

"Whatever", Justin replied coolly, trying not the let on that the nickname excited him, making his stomach flutter ever so slightly.  

A few more minutes went by before Brian commented, "Man I can't believe my cell phone is washed out." I also can't believe this fucking thing doesn't have a damn motor! he thought.

Justin was about to make some clever remark about what a tragedy that was when he spotted something in the near distance. He sat up instantly. "Oh my God, look!" He exclaimed. "Land! We've got land!"

Brian turned around and saw what Justin was pointing at. "Shit, we fucking do!" Brian cheered, almost in disbelief. "Finally, we're fucking saved!" Justin smiled in excitement, agreeing with his companion.

What the boys did not realise was that their adventure was far from over. They already believed they'd be saved. How wrong they were...

TO BE CONTINUED...