We Were Immortals

Prologue: Moonlight Promises

The silver light of the moon shone down on a dock at a lake in the middle of nowhere, just three miles away from the university that two young men attended. They ran up to this moonlit dock, small smiles dancing across their faces, and the shorter of the two turned to the other. "Is this the place?" he asked, and the other young man just nodded as he pulled his coat off of his body and threw it on the ground. He proceeded to take a seat and pull his shoes and his socks off of his feet. "What are you doing?"

"Freddy, did you really think we'd come all this way in the middle of the night, in the middle of the summer to sit on the pier?" he responded, undoing the buttons on his vest. "We're going swimming." He said it so matter of factly that Frederick couldn't help but look at him with his mouth slightly agape. 

"I don't know how to swim," Fredrick said, watching intently as the other man stripped off his shirt. The other man walked over to him and wrapped his arm around his shoulders. His arm was muscular, and a warm feeling washed over Frederick in a mere moment.

"Don't worry, I'll teach you, Freddy. It's not hard, I promise," he said. It was at that moment that he placed a single kiss on the other man's lips before sliding his trousers and undergarments off of his body. "What are you waiting for?"

Frederick caught himself staring and quickly turned away with a sheepish grin before peeling off his own jacket in a hurry. He desperately undid the buttons on his vest and shirt, pulling them off his body. He threw them down on the ground and slid his shoes and socks off his own feet. Then, he took off his belt, followed by his own trousers, and trembling, he undid the strings on his undergarments and let them fall to the ground. The other man grinned, his blond hair shining in the moonlight. The light illuminated his nude body, and Frederick couldn't help but stare. It reminded him of a statue sculpted during the renaissance and he could only utter three words. "You're beautiful, Tom."

Thomas sat down on the edge of the dock and let his feet hang over the edge, the tips of his toes hanging in the water. Ripples appeared on the edge of the glassy lake and caught the moonlight, creating the most picturesque image Frederick could imagine. He looked like he belonged inside of a painting, instead of right there in front of Frederick. Frederick could hardly believe that he was right there, within arms reach of such a beautiful man.

And yet he was.

He knew it wasn't exactly natural to think about Thomas the way he did, and for Thomas to think the same thing about him, but it just felt so right, and if he got to see Thomas like this, all of it would be worth it. As he took a seat next to Thomas on the dock, he could feel the electricity erupt between them as the skin of his arm brushed against the other man's. "Are you ready?" Thomas asked wrapping his arm around Frederick's waist.

"Ready for what?"

"To go for a swim," Thomas answered, sliding down into the water with a splash. When his head emerged from the water, he turned to Frederick and grinned. "Come on, Freddy, it'll be fun!"

"Not everyone grew up on 50 acres of farmland, you know."

"Who cares? Just come on down. For me?"

With those words, Frederick just couldn't resist. Carefully, he slipped down into the cool water. It consumed him and immediately cooled him down. He rapidly kicked his legs and felt himself moving up toward the surface, and suddenly, he broke out, once again feeling the air against his face. He kept kicking, and he stayed afloat. "See, Freddy, you're a natural!"

Frederick felt heat rise to his face. "You really think so?"

"I know so," Thomas said, his eyes reflecting the light of the moon, the light from all of the stars across the sky. He just stared up at them, moving his arms ever so slightly that his head remained above the water. It was so calm, so still, and the sound of the crickets chirping around them delighted his ears in a way that he couldn't quite comprehend. He had never been very good at understanding music, and he had been absolutely horrible when Frederick had tried to teach him piano. But sound like this, he understood them. The gentle chirp of the crickets, the sound of wind through the trees, and the calm mooing of a cow in a field all reminded him of one thing. Home.

But he always felt most at home when Frederick was by his side.

Frederick may have grown up in a big city, with $30,000 floating around his family name, but none of that mattered. Not really. There was so much more to him than his name, and the way that he looked at Frederick made him feel more at home than with anything he could find on the farm.

What snapped the two men out of their trances was a sudden motion and scream ringing out from Frederick's lips. He clung to Thomas, wrapping his arms around him, bringing Thomas down under the water. Realizing the danger he had just put them both in, Frederick released Thomas and felt himself begin to sink under the water. He thought he was going to drown, but suddenly, a hand reached down and grabbed his arm, pulling him up from below the surface of the water before dragging him to shore. He coughed and sputtered for a few moments before his lungs had expelled most of the water he had taken in. He simply laid back on the ground, trying to recover from the coughing fit.

"Freddy, I- I thought you were dead!" Thomas shouted, pulling the other man up and pulling him into a tight hug. His eyes were glistening, this time, not with the light of the moon and the stars, but rather, with tears.

"I'm alive," Frederick croaked, and Thomas pulled him in tighter, his shoulders shaking. They sat there in each other's embrace for a few long moments, and finally, when Thomas released Frederick, he planted a long, loving kiss upon Frederick's lips. They could taste the water that had pooled on their faces in tiny droplets, and they kept kissing until they heard a church bell in the distance chime a single time. They broke the kiss and stared into each other's eyes. They didn't say a word for a long while. Instead, they listened.

Finally, after what could have been an eternity, Thomas said, "My love for you will never die."

So, what do you guys think? This is going to be a little (read: a lot) different from what you've come to expect from me, and I really hope that you're ready for this roller coaster! I'm not going to set an update schedule for this in stone until I finish Sometimes, but expect new chapters on Wednesdays or Thursdays until then!

Make sure to leave a vote if you are excited to see what's next in this story!