Your Love Is Sunlight (Solangelo)

Chapter 2

Nico woke up to the faint sound of the sea in the distance, mixed with the strong rays of sunlight shining into the cabin. It was a real change to wake up in this place. It felt like an eternity since he had last slept in a solid sleeping place.

The warmth and peace of a house suddenly felt strange. He missed the rocking of the ship, the never-ending roar of the sea that he had cursed just before.

What had actually woken him up in the first place was the hustle and bustle around him. A person he had heard before. When he had briefly woken up on the beach and in between. For a moment, he thought this other person was a simple hallucination, he hadn't consciously noticed them, but now they were standing in the middle of the room.

Dragging wood back and forth. Shoes were kicked off and thrown across the cabin. Through the blurred gaze of tired eyes, Nico saw that he was being looked at, the person had turned to him and asked him a question.

Blinking slowly, fully realizing that Nico was not dreaming but in the real world, he sat up abruptly. New clothes he didn't recognize rubbed against his body, wrapped in blankets.

Everything smelled of the sea.

"What-"

"Good morning. How are you?" The stranger repeated. He paid no attention to his confusion, just went on throwing wood into the fireplace.

"Fine, I guess?" Nico paused, the guy's happy humming confused him, "How did I get here?"

The boy stood up and turned towards him. When their eyes met, a shiver ran through Nico's whole body. Nico stared into the blue eyes in front of him as if an ice-cold wave from the sea was washing over him. They looked as if they had been infused with the blue of the sea.

His hair was wild and golden. He smelled of the sea, like everything

"You were washed up by the sea. I found you on the beach, paler than the sand, I was afraid you were dead"

Nico had to squint his eyes, he couldn't tell whether the boy had just insulted him or not. Be that as it may, he had more important things to explain. Because whatever the golden boy was telling him didn't match what he remembered.

"I could have sworn something pulled me out of the water," he murmured and the other's eyes flashed with interest, "Like a mermaid. Shimmering golden like..."

Nico was almost about to say something unflattering, but the other's laughter made him stop. In a few steps, he had bridged the distance to them, leaning over the black-haired man. Nico watched with wide eyes as a warm hand placed itself on his forehead.

His eyelids fluttered shut in surprise at the warmth of the other. As if the sun itself were kissing his forehead.

A moment later, the sea boy murmured, "No fever, huh?"

"Hey!" Nico opened his eyes, barking out the word angrily.

But the other had already jumped away laughing, a cheeky grin on his lips and a cheerful twinkle in his eyes, which narrowed due to the grin.

The previously cozy warmth on Nico's forehead now spread through his whole body like a forest fire. He could feel it burning on his cheeks and tingling in his hands.

"Sorry, I thought you had a fever when you started talking about mermaids," he finally replied, the tip of his tongue sticking out like a tease as he finished his sentence.

Even though many statements, questions or simply insults burned on Nico's tongue, he didn't say anything in the end. Instead, he let his gaze wander around the cabin, enjoying the fact that the other's attention disappeared from him and the boy turned his attention to other things.