The Waves Are Ours |Virgato|

Chapter 14: Take a Breath

"So, what is it that you wanted to talk to me about?" Joel asked calmly. There was a hint of concern in his eyes as he looked Chris up and down.

Chris fidgeted with his shirt as he tried to remain calm. He had to talk to Joel, but what first? Either topic could end in disaster.

Joel was still looking at him expectantly, and Chris shifted awkwardly under his gaze. He knew he'd brought it up now and that not saying anything was only making things worse.

"Look, the thing is, I've been thinking a lot since we went to the aquarium," Chris starts to explain. He knows that he needs to get this right. He can't wait on this any longer.

Chris sucks in a deep breath as he balls his hands into fists. He looks down at the ground as he lets out, "The truth is that I love you."

The words hang in the air for a moment. Slowly, Chris looks up. Joel is sitting there simply staring at him with wide eyes. He looks a little pale as though he's about to faint.

Christopher's heart plummeted into his stomach. He knew Richard was wrong. Joel didn't feel the same way at all. He knew that he'd blown it. Maybe he'd been too forward. He should have explained things more before he said those three words so soon. He was such an idiot, there was no way Joel liked him back, especially not like that.

Yet, after a moment, Joel's eyes lit up like stars and he started to nod. Chris was a trembling mess by that point. Joel reached over and took Christopher's now trembling hands in his.

"Me too. I feel the same way," Joel nodded with a small smile.

Christopher's heart raced. He replayed the words in his head. He thought that he must have been dreaming or heard wrong. Yet here was Joel, nodding and smiling as if he'd said the best thing in the world.

"You know, I was actually thinking of saying the same thing, but I had no idea how to. I guess you beat me to it," Joel grinned, "I thought maybe you'd find it weird considering we're both guys and all. I wasn't sure if I told you that you'd take it the right way."

"I did as well," Chris agreed, "Is it weird though?"

Joel quickly shook his head, "No. I'm just glad that one of us finally said it."

"Yeah, me too," Chris agreed. He was totally stunned. He couldn't believe Richard was right. He must have been paying way more attention than Chris was.

"All I can say is that we're definitely going to be doing a lot more things like this, okay?" Joel smiled, gesturing between the two of them.

"For sure," Chris agreed. Though silently, Chris hoped that he could stay on land long enough to keep that promise.

Joel chatted excitedly about all the cool places nearby that they could go together. It seemed there were a lot of places that he hadn't taken Chris to yet. But Chris was barely listening. He was only thinking that even though he'd brought up one difficult topic, there was still the matter of bringing up the other.

He swallowed hard. He still wasn't sure he was ready to tell Joel about his tail or that he was a prince. He didn't want to lose everything if it freaked Joel out too much. Richard had been fine and maybe Joel would be the same. Yet he wasn't sure he wanted to risk everything on that.

He listened to Joel, keeping his eyes on the flames that flickered and danced before them. Why was it such a hard thing to say?

He felt Joel nudge him in the side, "Chris are you listening?" Joel questioned, looking over at him. Chris blinked, realizing that he'd zoned out. He nodded quickly.

"You said there were two things, right?" Joel questioned. "I thought that one was big enough, but what else do you need to tell me?"

Chris paused. Joel had been paying more attention than he thought. He cursed himself for getting too far ahead of himself. He realized that he'd have to tell him about his tail as well. Joel nodded for him to continue.