Glimpse of Heaven (3/4)
I should be finishing an English paper but here I am posting this... I hope that you like it.
Title: Glimpse of Heaven
Author: Gwen
Rating: PG-13
Excerpt: Ian had not released his hold on the American swimmer so now they were face to face and so close together that they could feel the breath of the other softly fluttering on their skin. Michael opened his mouth to say something but found that he couldn’t think of anything to say as he stared into Ian’s light hazel-brown eyes.
Sunday February 6, 2005
Jacksonville, Florida
Ian Thorpe found American football to be a rather confusing sport. He just didn’t understand all the fuss Americans put on and about the game. The sport was just absolute mayhem on and around the field. There were referees tossing yellow bits of fabric around on the field calling out various penalties and balls were being dropped and intercepted everywhere. The players all acted cocky once they managed to achieve a good play. They, of course, completely disregarded the fact that they had lost yards the last play that they did. The crowd in the stadium was yelling, screaming, spilling drinks, or chanting loudly. And even though Michael had spent a lot of time trying to explain the rules of the game to him, Ian just didn’t understand why Americans were so obsessed that they practically made a holiday every year on a Sunday in February for it. Besides, in Ian’s opinion, the players weren’t even all that strong and sturdy-they had to wear all that padding and protective gear. And why on earth was the bloody sport called football, anyway? The bloody ball was in one of the player’s hands almost all of the time that it wasn’t in the air.
Nonetheless, Ian thought that it was great fun to attend the Super Bowl and watch and observe all the people there in the crowded stadium. The fans were loud, rambunctious, and all having a good time-when their team was winning, anyway. If only there were people who were this crazy about the sport of swimming, he thought. However, no matter how much he liked being at the game, Ian was glad to be back at the hotel after the hours of interviews and talks about the Olympic Games in New York City before, during, and after the game that the Patriots won. He welcomed the quiet and calm of the top suite of the Sea Mariner Resort. All the noise of the exuberant Patriot fans and disappointed Eagles fans had been starting to reverberate and echo loudly in his head.
Yes, he was glad to be back at the hotel. It was the perfect time to talk-during this surreal quiet amongst all the sound, the Australian decided. He’d meant what he had said the night before about how he believed that Michael needed to talk to somebody about his nightmares. He wasn’t planning on forcing the American teenager to tell him about his bad dreams but thought that if he broached the subject, then maybe he would feel more comfortable thinking about potentially telling someone.
The two of them had been acting as if nothing had happened the previous night all day, since they’d woken up wrapped around each other. Michael had been the first to come out of the deep oblivion of sleep that they had both settled into. He’d managed to slip out of the bed without waking Ian and entered the bathroom. The alarm set on Ian’s watch had woken him up a few minutes later.
After going to the toilet, Ian had walked towards the coffeemaker only to find Michael drinking a glass of milk and a cup of coffee already prepared for him on the table. It was a thank-you for the night before and a plea to not mention what happened until he was ready.
“So what’s the plan for today?” Ian had asked. Michael had grinned, his face and body stance relaxing immediately with relief because of the knowledge that Ian wouldn’t be questioning him when he wasn’t ready.
They’d gone on to discuss the plans that had set up for them by the committee that was heading New York City’s proposal for the 2012 Olympic Games.
“So,” Michael’s voice trailed off; disturbing Ian’s thoughts about the day. He was not even looking at the Australian next to him on the couch in the sitting room of the Sea Mariner suite. “Um, so…”
“How long have you been having the nightmares?” Ian asked, as soon as he realized that the younger man wasn’t planning on continuing to speak.
Michael flinched slightly at the word nightmare. “Um, well,” he thought for a second before continuing on, “pretty much since the DUI. At the very least, they started after I started getting all the mail from all the people saying that I was a bad person and seeing some of the negative stuff that was being written about me. It’s always the same thing. I’m alone where it’s completely dark and black for awhile before I’m suddenly behind the wheel of a random car. I’m still sober when I’m driving but I have no control over my body and crash into another car. Then everything goes dark again and all I can hear is people screaming about how it’s all my fault.”
Ian sat down next to Michael and pulled him in for a gentle embrace. Michael tucked his head under Ian’s chin and sighed softly as the Aussie continued speaking on with his soothing voice with the Australian accent. “I’m not a psychologist or a therapist so I can’t tell you what these things in your dreams mean and what you can do to get rid of them. But I can say that no one, not any strangers or even your family, has the right to judge you. We all do stupid or careless things that we regret later. However, without these things we would never be able to grow and gain understanding and wisdom. Just move on with your life. You’ve learned your lesson and now it’s time to grow in that knowledge.”
Michael sighed and snuggled his head into Ian’s neck.
Monday February 7, 2005
Jacksonville, Florida
The two swimmers had spent their last day in Jacksonville going around the city and surrounding areas finding random things to do to entertain themselves. Some of the activities they did included horseback riding and going to an art museum. And that night the two of them had decided to go to out to eat dinner to commemorate their final day together.
But now the dream day was over and they both had to face the fact that they would be going to their separate homes now halfway across the world from each other without knowing when they’d be seeing each other again.
“God, this is wonderful. I don’t want to go home now,” Michael said as he stared out at the water from their hotel suite. “I don’t even want to contemplate what the weather is like up there in Ann Arbor.”
Ian smiled softly as he walked up to Michael and hugged the slightly shorter teenager from behind. “You should come visit me in Sydney during one of your school breaks. We could go to the beach and even travel up to Queensland and go to the Great Barrier Reef or something of the sort if you wanted.”
“That’d be great. I’ll have to see if I can manage to get out of training long enough to do it. Are you sure you’d be okay with me coming down to stay with you?”
The Australian gently placed his chin on top of the other’s shoulder as they both looked out at the water. “I wouldn’t have suggested it unless I wanted you to come. When is your vacation anyway? Is it coming up soon?”
“Spring break starts on the twenty-sixth this month and ends March seventh.”
Ian thought for second, going over his schedule mentally. “I should be mostly free during that time so come down to Sydney and stay with me.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” Michael turned around to continue to talk to the other but stopped short.
Ian had not released his hold on the American swimmer so now they were face to face and so close together that they could feel the breath of the other softly fluttering on their skin. Michael opened his mouth to say something but found that he couldn’t think of anything to say as he stared into Ian’s light hazel-brown eyes.
He could honestly say he didn’t know what caused it to happen.
He didn’t know why Ian had decided to hug him and hold him so gently that he couldn’t help but feel so warm and so safe. He didn’t know what made him want to kiss the Australian so much in that moment in time, when he never had considered it before.
What he did know was that he was glad that Ian did hug him and made him feel safe and that their lips had met for that first intense yet remarkably chaste kiss. The Australian had looked at Michael’s slightly upturned face and moved his powerful hands from their position around his waist to tenderly cup his face. He’d stared into Michael’s tinted coffee brown eyes before placing his lips upon the other swimmer’s and swiftly moving back.
Without words, Michael quickly moved forward to capture Ian’s lips. Soon their innocent and awkward kiss turned torrid and they moved away from the balcony, clutching each other desperately as if the other was a buoy in the middle of a raging ocean.
Michael wrapped his long legs around Ian’s waist as the Australian tugged his University of Michigan shirt over his head and tossed it in the direction of one of the chairs in the living room. Ian collapsed back onto the sofa from the combined effects of his knees being slammed into the leather side arms and Michael’s weight unexpectedly being fully placed upon him. Their lips broke apart as they laughed and giggled slightly as Ian struggled to pull himself all the way onto the couch so that his head wasn’t bent in such an awkward position that Michael couldn’t reach his lips. As Ian tried to move backwards, Michael crawled forward, following him and tugging at the buttons of Ian’s cobalt blue shirt trying to reach Ian’s skin.
When Michael finally did succeed, they both gasped as their chests met and resumed kissing again without thought after Michael managed to pull Ian’s arms out of the sleeves of his shirt. Michael opened his mouth under the assault of Ian’s tongue.
After a few more minutes of more kissing and caressing, Michael pulled away from Ian’s mouth and laid his head on his shoulder while wrapping him in his long arms. Ian ran one of his hands through Michael’s hair while the other continued rubbing up and down his back. Neither of them knew what to say to the unforeseen events.
What do you say to someone with whom you just had the greatest kiss of your life? Ian asked himself. Someone who just happens to be a bloke and a fellow athlete that you’ve known for practically four years.
“Well,” Michael said hesitantly in a quiet voice. “That was hot.”
And with that the tension was taken away for at least that small moment in time and they both laughed.
However, the kiss could not be ignored forever and they both had to face the consequences.
“Have you ever- I mean, have you ever thought of, or just-” Michael’s voice trailed off. He wasn’t sure how to ask the question. “Have you ever kissed a guy before? Or thought about kissing a guy before? I mean, um, do you think that you’re gay?”
Ian kept running his fingers through Michael’s hair that was surprisingly soft and smooth for being swimmer’s hair that was constantly being abused in chlorine pool water. “I can’t say that I have ever really thought about if I was gay or not. I mean I’ve never really been attracted to another man that much before. So I don’t know.” He sighed and sat up and moved from his position beneath Michael.
“I liked it.” Michael stated in a very straight forward manner, no emotion behind his voice at all. “I fucking just kissed a guy and I liked it.” There was a note of astonishment and fear in his voice at that statement. “God, what is going to happen now? What if people find out? Do you realize what’ll happen to us?”
Ian shrugged, “The media will constantly hound us wanting interviews. The hate groups will have an upheaval. We would both have to get greater security. We might lose some friends and realize just how great our others are. The gay support groups will love us. Our sponsors might want to break our contracts if they feel as if we aren’t getting enough support from the people. But the question should be: is there anything for the press to really talk about? So we kissed, that’s not a big deal. What matters is what we’re going to do now.”
Michael lifted his head from Ian’s chest to look at his eyes. “Did you like it-the kiss, I mean?”
The Australian smiled. “Judging by my actions during that kiss, I guess you could infer that I did. A lot.”
“So you wouldn’t mind doing it again-just to make sure?”
Ian grinned, “Not at all.”
Title: Glimpse of Heaven
Author: Gwen
Rating: PG-13
Excerpt: Ian had not released his hold on the American swimmer so now they were face to face and so close together that they could feel the breath of the other softly fluttering on their skin. Michael opened his mouth to say something but found that he couldn’t think of anything to say as he stared into Ian’s light hazel-brown eyes.
Sunday February 6, 2005
Jacksonville, Florida
Ian Thorpe found American football to be a rather confusing sport. He just didn’t understand all the fuss Americans put on and about the game. The sport was just absolute mayhem on and around the field. There were referees tossing yellow bits of fabric around on the field calling out various penalties and balls were being dropped and intercepted everywhere. The players all acted cocky once they managed to achieve a good play. They, of course, completely disregarded the fact that they had lost yards the last play that they did. The crowd in the stadium was yelling, screaming, spilling drinks, or chanting loudly. And even though Michael had spent a lot of time trying to explain the rules of the game to him, Ian just didn’t understand why Americans were so obsessed that they practically made a holiday every year on a Sunday in February for it. Besides, in Ian’s opinion, the players weren’t even all that strong and sturdy-they had to wear all that padding and protective gear. And why on earth was the bloody sport called football, anyway? The bloody ball was in one of the player’s hands almost all of the time that it wasn’t in the air.
Nonetheless, Ian thought that it was great fun to attend the Super Bowl and watch and observe all the people there in the crowded stadium. The fans were loud, rambunctious, and all having a good time-when their team was winning, anyway. If only there were people who were this crazy about the sport of swimming, he thought. However, no matter how much he liked being at the game, Ian was glad to be back at the hotel after the hours of interviews and talks about the Olympic Games in New York City before, during, and after the game that the Patriots won. He welcomed the quiet and calm of the top suite of the Sea Mariner Resort. All the noise of the exuberant Patriot fans and disappointed Eagles fans had been starting to reverberate and echo loudly in his head.
Yes, he was glad to be back at the hotel. It was the perfect time to talk-during this surreal quiet amongst all the sound, the Australian decided. He’d meant what he had said the night before about how he believed that Michael needed to talk to somebody about his nightmares. He wasn’t planning on forcing the American teenager to tell him about his bad dreams but thought that if he broached the subject, then maybe he would feel more comfortable thinking about potentially telling someone.
The two of them had been acting as if nothing had happened the previous night all day, since they’d woken up wrapped around each other. Michael had been the first to come out of the deep oblivion of sleep that they had both settled into. He’d managed to slip out of the bed without waking Ian and entered the bathroom. The alarm set on Ian’s watch had woken him up a few minutes later.
After going to the toilet, Ian had walked towards the coffeemaker only to find Michael drinking a glass of milk and a cup of coffee already prepared for him on the table. It was a thank-you for the night before and a plea to not mention what happened until he was ready.
“So what’s the plan for today?” Ian had asked. Michael had grinned, his face and body stance relaxing immediately with relief because of the knowledge that Ian wouldn’t be questioning him when he wasn’t ready.
They’d gone on to discuss the plans that had set up for them by the committee that was heading New York City’s proposal for the 2012 Olympic Games.
“So,” Michael’s voice trailed off; disturbing Ian’s thoughts about the day. He was not even looking at the Australian next to him on the couch in the sitting room of the Sea Mariner suite. “Um, so…”
“How long have you been having the nightmares?” Ian asked, as soon as he realized that the younger man wasn’t planning on continuing to speak.
Michael flinched slightly at the word nightmare. “Um, well,” he thought for a second before continuing on, “pretty much since the DUI. At the very least, they started after I started getting all the mail from all the people saying that I was a bad person and seeing some of the negative stuff that was being written about me. It’s always the same thing. I’m alone where it’s completely dark and black for awhile before I’m suddenly behind the wheel of a random car. I’m still sober when I’m driving but I have no control over my body and crash into another car. Then everything goes dark again and all I can hear is people screaming about how it’s all my fault.”
Ian sat down next to Michael and pulled him in for a gentle embrace. Michael tucked his head under Ian’s chin and sighed softly as the Aussie continued speaking on with his soothing voice with the Australian accent. “I’m not a psychologist or a therapist so I can’t tell you what these things in your dreams mean and what you can do to get rid of them. But I can say that no one, not any strangers or even your family, has the right to judge you. We all do stupid or careless things that we regret later. However, without these things we would never be able to grow and gain understanding and wisdom. Just move on with your life. You’ve learned your lesson and now it’s time to grow in that knowledge.”
Michael sighed and snuggled his head into Ian’s neck.
Monday February 7, 2005
Jacksonville, Florida
The two swimmers had spent their last day in Jacksonville going around the city and surrounding areas finding random things to do to entertain themselves. Some of the activities they did included horseback riding and going to an art museum. And that night the two of them had decided to go to out to eat dinner to commemorate their final day together.
But now the dream day was over and they both had to face the fact that they would be going to their separate homes now halfway across the world from each other without knowing when they’d be seeing each other again.
“God, this is wonderful. I don’t want to go home now,” Michael said as he stared out at the water from their hotel suite. “I don’t even want to contemplate what the weather is like up there in Ann Arbor.”
Ian smiled softly as he walked up to Michael and hugged the slightly shorter teenager from behind. “You should come visit me in Sydney during one of your school breaks. We could go to the beach and even travel up to Queensland and go to the Great Barrier Reef or something of the sort if you wanted.”
“That’d be great. I’ll have to see if I can manage to get out of training long enough to do it. Are you sure you’d be okay with me coming down to stay with you?”
The Australian gently placed his chin on top of the other’s shoulder as they both looked out at the water. “I wouldn’t have suggested it unless I wanted you to come. When is your vacation anyway? Is it coming up soon?”
“Spring break starts on the twenty-sixth this month and ends March seventh.”
Ian thought for second, going over his schedule mentally. “I should be mostly free during that time so come down to Sydney and stay with me.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” Michael turned around to continue to talk to the other but stopped short.
Ian had not released his hold on the American swimmer so now they were face to face and so close together that they could feel the breath of the other softly fluttering on their skin. Michael opened his mouth to say something but found that he couldn’t think of anything to say as he stared into Ian’s light hazel-brown eyes.
He could honestly say he didn’t know what caused it to happen.
He didn’t know why Ian had decided to hug him and hold him so gently that he couldn’t help but feel so warm and so safe. He didn’t know what made him want to kiss the Australian so much in that moment in time, when he never had considered it before.
What he did know was that he was glad that Ian did hug him and made him feel safe and that their lips had met for that first intense yet remarkably chaste kiss. The Australian had looked at Michael’s slightly upturned face and moved his powerful hands from their position around his waist to tenderly cup his face. He’d stared into Michael’s tinted coffee brown eyes before placing his lips upon the other swimmer’s and swiftly moving back.
Without words, Michael quickly moved forward to capture Ian’s lips. Soon their innocent and awkward kiss turned torrid and they moved away from the balcony, clutching each other desperately as if the other was a buoy in the middle of a raging ocean.
Michael wrapped his long legs around Ian’s waist as the Australian tugged his University of Michigan shirt over his head and tossed it in the direction of one of the chairs in the living room. Ian collapsed back onto the sofa from the combined effects of his knees being slammed into the leather side arms and Michael’s weight unexpectedly being fully placed upon him. Their lips broke apart as they laughed and giggled slightly as Ian struggled to pull himself all the way onto the couch so that his head wasn’t bent in such an awkward position that Michael couldn’t reach his lips. As Ian tried to move backwards, Michael crawled forward, following him and tugging at the buttons of Ian’s cobalt blue shirt trying to reach Ian’s skin.
When Michael finally did succeed, they both gasped as their chests met and resumed kissing again without thought after Michael managed to pull Ian’s arms out of the sleeves of his shirt. Michael opened his mouth under the assault of Ian’s tongue.
After a few more minutes of more kissing and caressing, Michael pulled away from Ian’s mouth and laid his head on his shoulder while wrapping him in his long arms. Ian ran one of his hands through Michael’s hair while the other continued rubbing up and down his back. Neither of them knew what to say to the unforeseen events.
What do you say to someone with whom you just had the greatest kiss of your life? Ian asked himself. Someone who just happens to be a bloke and a fellow athlete that you’ve known for practically four years.
“Well,” Michael said hesitantly in a quiet voice. “That was hot.”
And with that the tension was taken away for at least that small moment in time and they both laughed.
However, the kiss could not be ignored forever and they both had to face the consequences.
“Have you ever- I mean, have you ever thought of, or just-” Michael’s voice trailed off. He wasn’t sure how to ask the question. “Have you ever kissed a guy before? Or thought about kissing a guy before? I mean, um, do you think that you’re gay?”
Ian kept running his fingers through Michael’s hair that was surprisingly soft and smooth for being swimmer’s hair that was constantly being abused in chlorine pool water. “I can’t say that I have ever really thought about if I was gay or not. I mean I’ve never really been attracted to another man that much before. So I don’t know.” He sighed and sat up and moved from his position beneath Michael.
“I liked it.” Michael stated in a very straight forward manner, no emotion behind his voice at all. “I fucking just kissed a guy and I liked it.” There was a note of astonishment and fear in his voice at that statement. “God, what is going to happen now? What if people find out? Do you realize what’ll happen to us?”
Ian shrugged, “The media will constantly hound us wanting interviews. The hate groups will have an upheaval. We would both have to get greater security. We might lose some friends and realize just how great our others are. The gay support groups will love us. Our sponsors might want to break our contracts if they feel as if we aren’t getting enough support from the people. But the question should be: is there anything for the press to really talk about? So we kissed, that’s not a big deal. What matters is what we’re going to do now.”
Michael lifted his head from Ian’s chest to look at his eyes. “Did you like it-the kiss, I mean?”
The Australian smiled. “Judging by my actions during that kiss, I guess you could infer that I did. A lot.”
“So you wouldn’t mind doing it again-just to make sure?”
Ian grinned, “Not at all.”