Truly, Madly, Deeply
by Amy Fortuna

*****

Part 1: Stand With You On A Mountain

"We did it!" Rafe took off his cap and threw it in the air. The two eight year old boys were standing on top of a giant haystack they'd climbed up, not without dislodging a good deal of the hay on the way.

Danny snatched Rafe's cap from out of the air just as it was about to go over the side of the stack. The two plopped down into the warm, sweet-smelling hay and just sat staring off at the fields for a while.

Eventually they heard the noise of a plane flying overhead. "Wonder if that's Dad," Rafe said lazily.

"It don't look like your dad," Danny answered, sitting up a bit more. "Plane's bigger."

Rafe sat up too, and they both stared as the plane, flying slowly, came overhead.

"That's a war plane," Rafe said at last. "A flyer is piloting it."

"Wow," Danny said, and they both went silent, looking up at the brand spanking new military plane.

They were both so caught up in watching the plane, that they didn't even see Rafe's dad walking across the field to them.

"Hey, boys," he said. "Watcha doin' up there?"

"Hey, Dad!" Rafe waved at his father. "See the plane?"

"Yeah."

"That's a war plane!"

"So it is," Rafe's father said. "But you've gotta come down now, it's time for dinner."

"Wanna come to dinner, Danny?" Rafe asked.

"Sure!" Danny looked pleased; Rafe's family, unlike his, always had enough to eat and to spare.

"Catch me, Daddy!" Rafe yelled, and slid down the haystack into the waiting arms of his father.

*****

Part 2: Bathe With You In The Sea

"This suit is too big, Rafe," Danny said, after pulling his shorts up for the third time.

"Well, it's too small for me," Rafe said. "Here, let's put a safety pin in it to hold it up."

They rummaged around for a safety pin, finally finding one in Rafe's mother's sewing kit. Danny gathered the extra length of cloth together and held it away from his body as Rafe stuck the pin through carefully, making sure not to stick Danny.

Rafe's hand brushed across Danny's hipbone, and Rafe suddenly felt a spark of brilliant arousal sting through him, momentarily depriving him of his senses.

Fortunately, Danny did not notice the slight gasp he gave, and the pin was fastened without a hitch.

"There," Rafe said, stepping back and trying to keep his composure, "all better?"

Danny smiled at him. "All better." He tugged at the waistline of the shorts experimentally. "See?"

Rafe laughed and turned toward the cabin door. "Last one in's a rotten egg!"

They raced toward the lake, arriving at almost the same moment, and plunged into the cool water. The rest of Rafe's family was already on the sand or in the water.

Danny splashed Rafe. Rafe splashed him back. And in the middle of their first water fight of the summer, Danny made up his mind that this was the best vacation he had ever had.

*****

Part 3: Lay Like This Forever

They were both breathing hard as they looked into each other's eyes. They knew exactly what they were seeing -- the eyes of a friend, an almost-brother, and now, a lover.

Rafe had not meant to confess his long-held feelings for Danny. Nor had Danny expected to blurt out how he loved his best friend just as much. But it had happened, in the darkness one night in their shared room, and they were silent as Danny slid into Rafe's bed, silent as they stared, awestruck, into one another's eyes, before their first kiss.

They kissed, long and slow and delicious, learning each other. And to Danny it was like finding a home, forever, in the taste of Rafe's lips.

"Your mouth is sweet," Rafe whispered, lips kiss-close to Danny's.

Danny did not answer, but reached between their bodies, tracing a slender hand down Rafe's chest on the way to his goal.

Rafe did his own exploring, hand making a journey down across Danny's hip before finally touching his friend's cock, slenderness coming alive in his hands.

Danny caught his breath in an almost-sob of pleasure. Rafe's hand on his body was almost enough to make him come, just in a fantasy, but it was so much better in reality.

"Oh," they gasped together, almost in surprise, and began a steady simultaneous pumping, mouths crushing together in passion.

Almost too quickly it was over. Danny pulled Rafe to him, and they pressed body to body for a moment, limbs tangled together. Their bodies were covered with a faint sheen of sweat in the moonlight. They were both panting, not speaking, overcome by what they had just experienced.

Later that night, after they had slept curled together for a little while, Danny crept back to his own bed.

The morning found them facing each other with sheepish, knowing smiles.

*****

Part 4: Until The Sky Falls

"Danny, no, please!" Rafe was aware, with some faint part of his brain, that he was shouting, and that everyone in his crew who was still alive was watching curiously over his shoulder. But he didn't care.

"Danny...Danny," he called, as Danny's eyes fluttered open again.

"Rafe?" Danny's voice was very, very weak. "I gotta go. My dad is waiting for me."

Rafe bent down very low, close to Danny's lips so the others would not hear. "Love you, Danny," he whispered. "Had to tell you. I love you."

Danny smiled through the pain, and shifted up so that their lips were almost touching. "Love you too, Rafe."

Their lips met, for the last time, as Danny's eyes closed again, and his body went limp. And Rafe could not see anything for a long time, because of the tears that kept coming into his eyes.

He cradled Danny's broken body to his breast, and silently let his tears fall onto his best friend and lover's clothes, until the Chinese roused him and took him away to safety.

END