Midnight Sun

Chapter 1

[April 10, 2018; Huntington Beach, California]

Dylan was asleep when he heard it. The sound of someone's notification woke him, so he grabbed his phone to see what it was. It was 7:27 a.m.

Tanner Braungardt Tweeted:

How is it possible to wake up anxious

Dylan jumped out of bed and ran toward Tanner's room. It might be nothing, considering Tanner apparently felt well enough to tell Twitter about it, but Dylan didn't take Tanner's anxiety lightly. He opened the door, and Tanner looked up and nodded at Dylan with a scared look on his face. Dylan shut the door and quickly slid into Tanner's bed, wrapping his arms around Tanner and holding him tight.

"It's OK," Dylan said in a calm, soothing voice. "I've got you. Everything is going to be all right."

Tanner's breathing was still uneven, so Dylan just continued to hold him for several minutes, occasionally repeating what he had said.

He wished he'd been there sooner. Nothing like this happened in the last couple months in Kansas after Dylan had moved in and started sleeping with Tanner - now that they were officially a couple - and maybe if Dylan had been there when Tanner woke up today, this anxiety attack wouldn't have happened. But it had only been a week since they moved into the new house in California, and Tanner wanted Dylan's side of Logan's room to look a little more lived-in in the videos before Dylan moved into Tanner's room. It hadn't been that long for Tanner to be so used to waking up with Dylan that him not being there would be a reason for Tanner to panic, but still Dylan felt responsible.

"I'm here now, Tanner," he said, trying to radiate calm into Tanner's nerves.

Dylan had been in love with Tanner for as long as he could remember, literally his entire life. It had taken so long for them to get to there, but now that Dylan had Tanner as a boyfriend, he wouldn't ever let him go. He gave Tanner a squeeze and started gently caressing him.

[one month earlier]

"What do you mean you're not sure you're gay?" Shark asked Dylan as they traveled between stops on their Northeast tour.

"I've only been attracted to one guy," Dylan explained. "Describing someone as gay suggests it's part of a pattern of being attracted to guys generally. Tanner and I have a gay relationship. We have gay sex. I have gay feelings for him. But he's still just one example, and there aren't any others, so there's no pattern."

"But you haven't been attracted to any girls either," Shark said.

"No, just Tanner."

"Ever?"

"It's always been Tanner. My whole life. It wasn't always the same, and it took me a while to understand that's how I felt, but I was always in love with him. I don't have any memories before that."

"So it was like love at first sight, on the first day of kindergarten? Or whenever it was that you met?"

"Yeah, basically."

"That sounds pretty gay to me. And you've never even looked at anyone else?"

"I knew what I wanted."

"Wow. She's different all right."

"I think you're lucky," said Z. "Finding your soul mate so early."

"Thanks, I am," Dylan agreed.

"What about a guy who looked like Tanner?" Shark suggested. "A cute little blond twink with tight abs, perfect cheekbones and a killer smile. Would you be attracted to him?"