Happy Birthday, @mazandaroga
Happy Birthday, @mazandaroga . For your special day and the upcoming next year all the best, Marco!
In honor of your birthday, I wrote this little piece for you. I hope you like it.
What he has in mind is risky, maybe even dangerous. Erik is incalculable and Nadir knows that. Yet he can’t help that his heart is beating unnaturally fast inside his chest, not because of fear, but because of excitement. Oh, it has been a very long time since he has felt like this, like a trembling teenage boy who tries to get close to his crush. The risk of confessing his love to somebody back then would have basically been rejection, that the other one wouldn’t feel the same for him in return. But today is different. He is certain … at least as certain as someone can be when it comes to Erik, that the great magician sees more in him than an ordinary friend. His behaviour when Nadir is around speaks volumes. Nonetheless he can’t estimate how Erik will react when he tries to get close to him in that way, revealing that he feels the same. Nadir can’t say how long he has fought with himself to reach this point where he now stands, ready to let Erik know, sure that he would never dare to make the first step.
Nadir has watched Erik for several days now, maybe weeks. So he has found out that almost every night Erik comes to the secluded bay, which is sheltered from view by rocks, to bathe. He wonders if Erik has ever been aware of the times he had followed him and simply hadn’t told. It is something Nadir isn’t able to estimate. He likes to think, that Erik had always noticed when he had watched him, not saying anything, because he secretly hoped for something to happen – but these are just Nadir’s thoughts … wishes. The truth is that he knows nothing about what is going on in Erik’s head. And this is why he is so nervous now. A part of him tries to convince him to choose a better time, that this here is too offensive. But he has played the scene so many times in his fantasy. He has come here during this ungodly hour for only this one reason. He can’t go back now. He doesn’t want to find a better time. Deep inside he knowas that, though he is a bit afraid of how this will end.
He begins to take off his clothes until his pants are the last thing left on him. The sand is cold under his feet, but not uncomfortable since the air is still warm. His toes claw into it, feeling the mass while a soft breeze strokes his naked skin and the scent of the ocean fills his nose. Moonlight illuminates everything and Nadir isn’t sure if that is a good thing or not. Allah, his heart is so loud by now that he fears Erik will hear it beating. It doesn’t matter how many deep breaths he takes - they don’t help him to calm down. A while passes, an eternity to be honest, full of doubts and hesitation, but finally he starts to move to the place where Erik has entered the water about twenty minutes ago, ready to do the same. It’s now or never, Nadir says silently to himself to find the final impulse to actually step forward into the dark, liquid coolness.
“Lost in thoughts again, my love?”
A blanket is laid around Nadir’s shoulders and the vivid memory fades, giving room for the environment around him. Golden rays of a sinking autumn sun break through the red leaves of the big maple tree. The breeze is cold and so is the bench on which he sits and only now he realizes that he freezes, how the wind has crept into his old bones. With crossed arms, he grabs the blanket and pulls it tighter around his body, when he feels a kiss upon his black hair which by now shows wisps of silver and grey, sparkling in the light. He can’t help but smile and the wrinkles around his mouth, though hidden by his thick beard, crinkle. Erik’s skinny arms loop around him from behind. His long hair has been gone for decades now, but Nadir still remembers the feeling of how it had always tickled his neck, when he had been blessed with such an embrace. Erik bends down and gently his thin lips touch his cheek. Still, after all these years the slightest show of affection from his beloved one brings him pleasant chills and he closes his eyes to feel the soft caressing more intensely.
“I am.” He finally says, still smiling, and he adds, “And once again I’ve come to the conclusion what luck it was that I could find the courage that one night to join you in the water.”
He leans his face against Erik’s tender lips. And his skin is stroked by a warm breath when Erik whispers:
“I couldn’t agree more, my dearest.” And his embrace gets tighter, telling stories of love and thankfulness.
Thanks @ofbeautsandbeasts who once again did the correcting of my English.
