Trampoline (Mavin)

                “You’ve never jumped on a trampoline?” Michael asked curiously as Gavin’s head shook out the answer no. “Man, you’re missing out… I used to love my trampoline. Haven’t jumped on one since.” Michael’s brown eyes held small doses of regret at his words.

                Gavin cocked his head curiously. “Are trampolines that fun?”

                “Trust me, you haven’t lived until you’ve jumped ten fucking feet in the air.”

                An extensive shopping trip and a U-Haul truck later, Gavin stood proudly in his and Michael’s backyard, smiling at intently at his work of art. A huge twenty foot diameter trampoline stood erect in the center of the yard, looking more and more in place as Gavin thought things over. Michael would be home in about an hour (Gavin had left work early under the alibi that he was “feeling a bit under the weather”), and Gavin really wanted Michael to get the full effect. So, in the remaining time, Gavin grabbed some old blankets and spread them over the trampoline’s center, laying himself on one of them as he waited for Michael.

                When Michael got home, he called out to Gavin, only to hear a yelling response from out back. He strode through the small couple’s house, only to find that the back door had been left open. Curiously, Michael stepped out of the threshold to see…

                “You didn’t have to do that!” Michael yelled, rushing over to Gavin, who was sitting meditation-style on one of the blankets. “Seriously, you didn’t have to go through all this trouble!” Michael was prone to rage fits in his videos, but in real life, he was much, much sweeter and more considerate.

                Shrugging, Gavin replied, “I wanted to do something nice.”

                Michael smiled, eyes warm with joy. “This isn’t nice… Nice doesn’t even begin to cover it.”

                “Glad to hear it,” Gavin responded. Then, he looked over Michael and stood. “Now, get your ass up here and jump with me.” He held out his hand to Michael, helping his boyfriend onto the colossal children’s toy like the gentleman he was.

                Grinning, Michael gratefully accepted the hand and climbed up. “Any reason for the blankets?”

                “I figured that we could stargaze or something like that…” Gavin trailed off, blushing from his own statement. Normally, it took a lot more to get Gavin embarrassed (a pastime of Michael’s), but apparently Gavin had given this a lot of thought.

                “Yeah… Stargazing,” Michael played along, even though he had understood the innuendo immediately. “But let’s stick to jumping for now.”

                Something that Gavin had never thought he would see was Michael acting like a child (aside from immature jokes). However, before his eyes, Michael was regressing into a teenage boy, angry with his parents and happy with the world. Michael’s eyes had never been so full of life before, not when the ground was steady. Gavin was right there with him, too; he finally understood why Michael had been so passionate about jumping on his trampoline as a child. He had been missing out on so much. The feeling of flying upwards only to gracefully bounce on impact with the ground was addictive.

                After a solid ten minutes of laughing and hopping together like rabbits, the two made a silent agreement to take a break and lie down on the blankets beside each other, looking up at the blue sky that was quickly giving way to sundown.