AN: This chapter is full of flashbacks.
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June 1992
The sea breeze whistled through the blond hair of a young man who was running with the spirit of youth. The young man stopped to gaze in wonder at the blue sea. His legs were soaked to the knees with seawater, grains of white sand scattered around his legs and trousers.
A white seagull swooped low over the surface of the vast sea, graded with the bright colors of the sky surrounded by floating clouds ahead.
The beach promenade at Yantatny in the Kaliningrad region is mesmerizing, bringing a smile to his face. As the waves came crashing in at his feet, his balance wavered slightly, he reflexively stepped back and bumped into the young man with his back.
"Be careful! The waves here are a bit big," the young man warned as he held back the shoulder that had just bumped into him.
"This is the first time I've seen the sea, I'm so excited that I forgot myself," said Noel, the young man with the blond hair, half shouting as the noise of the wind slightly obscured his voice.
Noel moved away from Walther's side as soon as his attention caught sight of a branch. An idea came to mind, and he drew something in the sand.
"What did you draw?" asked Walther curiously.
Without looking back, Noel replied, "You can see later."
It didn't take long for his sand drawing to be completed.
Laughter would have erupted if Walther hadn't quickly covered his mouth with the back of his hand. Unlike Noel, he looked at his work with pride. The sketch of two people kissing was clearly drawn on the sand. If you look longer, the drawing isn't too bad either.
"Wow, this sketch makes me jealous," Walther commented on the sketch of two people kissing.
At this, Noel turned his head to the side, glancing at the young man who was enjoying looking at his work. And a second later, Walther gasped as he felt a brief peck land on his right cheek. He turned around to find Noel grinning at him.
"You're not jealous anymore, are you?" he asked.
Instead of answering, Walther returned Noel's peck with a light kiss on the lips.
"Now we're even, right?" Walther continued with a triumphant smile.
Noel was stunned for a moment. Noel's fingertips unconsciously touched his lips lightly. He was sure his face must have turned red by now. Noel was suddenly embarrassed. He had intended to tease Walther, but things had turned out like a boomerang - he was the one being teased now, even though Walther probably hadn't intended to tease him at all.
For Noel, the young man's kiss wasn't his first, but it was the first kiss that made his heart race.
Ignoring the beauty of nature, Walther chose to enjoy Noel's face. Earlier, he swallowed a glob of saliva to drain his dry throat.
Noel turned his body fully to face Walther.
Grabbing Noel's right hand, Walther momentarily enjoyed the tickle of Noel's warm breath caressing his skin among the sea breeze that hit him, accelerating the pounding in his chest.
"I like you," Walther said suddenly.
Noel was startled, his eyes rounded—staring at the pair of irises that were currently staring into his red eyes. Had Noel not misheard what Walther had just said?
"I like you," he repeated, the words he had been keeping inside finally coming out.
"I'm a boy!" A nervous Noel replied simply.
Crisp laughter followed the next second. "Me too," Walther continued, a playful tone tucked in. "But ... is it wrong?"
Noel blinked, looking up at Walther with confusion reflected in his blue eyes. He was happy at the moment, but on the other hand he felt that this was rushed. Noel realized they were seventeen-and the one thing that stuck in his mind was that they were both boys. Love between people of the same sex was complicated, according to Noel. It requires commitment and determination to stay together.
Right now, it was very difficult for him to answer the young man's invitation. However, on the other hand. The pounding of his heart beat against his eardrums strongly. Maybe Noel would go deaf from his own heartbeat.
"My mom told me once that you like someone. No matter how hard it is for you to say it to that person just say it. It's better than keeping it to yourself."
Noel listened.
"I'm not a poetic person, nor a romantic, so I express my feelings in simple syllables," Walther laughed a little, "those words, so easy to say but so hard to do." He looked down at the sand for a moment, before looking back up at Noel.
There were a few seconds of silence between them, before ....
"I do."
Because of his nervousness, Noel didn't realize that his mouth was saying that. After he answered, he realized instantly-that Walther was asking him to be his lover, not his husband.
Noel turned his face away from the brown beads refracting on him in embarrassment.
"So you're willing?" Walther looked at Noel with a twinkle in his eye. His hand moved to touch Noel right where he was thumping-before bringing the young man's body into his arms. "Let me have all that you are, and I will give you all that I am."
In the arms of the young man who a few seconds ago had become his lover, Noel chuckled. This was the first time someone had expressed feelings for him. He felt something in his ribs that wouldn't stop pounding. Something he thought was strange, but there was an overwhelming feeling of pleasure mixed in there.
Noel returned Walther's hug whispering in the young man's ear. "From now on, you're mine." His face flushed, he hid it in the crook of Walther's neck.
Walther released his embrace. "And now, I promise I'll protect you with my life, I won't let anyone hurt you."
"You're overreacting."
"I'm serious, you can keep my promise. I'll be your bulletproof vest."
"Fine ...I believe you." Their embrace broke apart. And at that very second, Noel pushed Walther until his body lost its balance and slipped. Sea water soaked some parts of his body as well as his clothes. Meanwhile, the perpetrator ran away before he could reply.
"Noel! Watch out!" Walther, who did not want to be outdone, immediately got up to chase Noel.
He responded with laughter.
The sea breeze blew in early summer. On the coast, two long shadows chased each other. While the sun was sinking at the bottom of the ocean. In the distance, the waves rolled in to greet the coming tide.
*
Noel's Sundays were busy working at a café called HOPE Caffe. Even after the sun reached the end of the afternoon to set.
Smiling at the orange sunset, Noel recalled the face of the handsome young man who shouted 'I love you' against the beautiful panorama; the second the sun set in the middle of the ocean with orange gradations.
The doorbell tinkled. Greeting a young man who is a customer after a short-sleeved wilis shirt, a white T-shirt underneath with jeans wrapped snugly around his legs.
The young man mentioned the latte, sandwitch and bacon lettuce tomato as orders to the uniformed female worker in pastel colors who asked as soon as he arrived in front of the menu. After that, the young man stepped towards the table with two white chairs beside the window. His long legs tapping the floor tiles at a leisurely pace, he pulled out a chair to sit on and gazed at the activity outside the window.
In less than three minutes, his order arrived, delivered by a cute young man. The aroma of coffee and toast was accompanied by slices of tomato, lettuce, and bacon smeared with mayonnaise. Walther quickly turned his attention to the clerk. "Thank you, sweettie."
Noel, who had been looking down, was surprised by the familiar baritone voice that greeted him. His eyes flickered as his attention caught the handsome young man who flashed him a charming smile. Their dark eyes stared at each other for a few moments before falling apart.
"What are you doing here?" Noel asked, forgetting that his lover had come to fill his stomach.
"What am I doing? For lunch, of course. I'm so hungry." Walther laughed, his latte and bacon lettuce tomato sandwitch temporarily abandoned. "And of course ... to see this lover of mine," he continued between chuckles that brought a faint blush to Noel's cheeks.
Walther grabbed a fork and cut the sandwich into small pieces to eat. "Don't you want to accompany me to eat? Or do you want me to order something?" he asked.
Noel smiled and shook his head. "I'm working late today, so I'll be home later," he explained, telling his lover not to wait for him as usual.
Walther understood with a nod, but swallowed the sandwich in his mouth. "Don't push yourself too hard!"
Walther's advice managed to put the full force of Noel's will into him, the young man leaving after Walther stood up from his chair, not to leave, but to reach the top of Noel's head that was no taller than him, ruffling the blonde's mane anxiously before he left to go back to work.
*
Night was rising as the roar of motorcycles and the chatter of a few people slipped through Noel's ears as he walked out of the café where he worked. Midnight was only an hour away, and his eyes were filled with fatigue.
It had been a long day. While some people have one day off a week to rest their broken bodies, Noel has to work to make ends meet living in a big city with expensive basic necessities.
On a typical day, Noel returns from the back door of the café with his backpack containing a change of clothes. On weekdays other than weekends, the backpack would contain textbooks. Because during his work breaks, the young man would usually eat while doing schoolwork. So after he got home, all Noel would do was clean up and then go to bed.
Shuffling his feet to step under the moonlight. Noel glanced right and left. The trauma of the attempted rape by three young punks on him a few weeks ago was still fresh in his mind. If his Batman hadn't come along that time, Noel didn't know what he would have ended up with.
The first time they met when Walther helped him, Noel considered Walther the Batman of his life.
As he was about to pass through the alley, Noel quickened his pace. However, unexpectedly a hand pulled his body and hugged him from behind. Noel was startled, about to scream, but his scream was blocked in his throat as a soft baritone whispered in his ear.
"It's me," Walther said.
Noel's frightened expression changed. Immediately smiling, Noel turned around and hugged Walther back tightly.
"You just scared me," Noel complained, pursing his lips playfully.
"Did I scare you? Sorry, I was just trying to surprise you," Walther regretted after kissing Noel's pursed lips briefly.
"Don't make that face! You make me want to eat you." Walther teased between laughs. Their embrace broke apart.
"Don't make that face! You make me want to eat you." Walther teased between laughs. Their embrace broke apart.
"I'm not food, I don't taste good," Noel replied, not understanding what Walther meant by wanting to eat him.
A week into their relationship, Walther still hadn't touched Noel. Mostly just hugs and lip kisses.
Noel was given the leather jacket that had framed Walther's body. The warmth of the young man's body was still imprinted on the jacket. After Noel put it on, Walther handed him the helmet again.
"Aren't you cold in that sweatshirt?" asked Noel anxiously, looking at his lover who was clad only in a long-sleeved black sweatshirt that covered almost his knuckles - after the leather jacket had been given to keep the sweet young man from freezing.
Walther smiled. "No, it's a thick T-shirt anyway," he replied as he climbed onto the bike with Noel in the back seat.
Noel hugged Walther's waist as the engine started and the motorcycle sped off at a moderate speed towards its destination.
*
"I didn't know my favorite place to eat wasn't open today, so I brought you here," Walther said as he looked at the menu of a restaurant not far from his closed favorite.
"I'd be happy if you'd take me to a restaurant," Noel replied as he thought about how he sometimes ate fast food on his lunch breaks.
"Did you order what you wanted?"
Noel put down the menu book. "I ordered what you ordered." Smiling sweetly at him on the first date.
Once the waiter arrived, Walther ordered two servings of buttermilk pancakes with maple syrup and extra bacon. He had apple juice and one black coffee.
Once the waiter left, Walther said, "I'll treat you to a meal out together more often."
"No need to bother," Noel replied, throwing Walther a smile.
"I'm not bothered at all, after all you look thinner than you did a few months ago, and I don't want my lover to be malnourished."
Noel couldn't help but smile at that, and without saying anything, their order arrived.
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