Sun and the Moon Ch. 01

Alex took a deep breath, the fresh air filling his lungs in the beautiful day. The winter had not been kind and was much longer than normal, but he was just happy to be enjoying the nice spring days, even if his allergies were worse than normal. With the spring came the promise of summer, which meant long days at the beach and hot summer days. To get ready for this, Alex always started running as soon as the temperature would allow him to not freeze on his runs.

After a quick stretch, Alex took off at a solid pace. While his wiry body had been mostly a disadvantage, this was one area where it actually helped him. At a solid 5'5'', and 120 lbs soaking wet, Alex glided through the neighborhood at a solid pace. His long, seemingly hairless legs glistening with a white milky color from the lack of sun in the winter. His roughly shoulder length cherry blonde hair bounced behind him in the low pony tail he kept it in.

Despite the cold weather, he did try to maintain a little bit of his fitness. This meant by the time he broke out the tank top and the shorts, he had a nice muscle tone that let others know he was fit and took care of himself. He knew he was never designed to be a body builder or anything like that, but he loved to run, he felt made for this.

After several minutes, he felt himself start to warm up and he started to get into the zone. Some people called this a runners high. He picked up the pace, taking huge strides and passing several people who waved at him as he passed by. Despite knowing this route well and making this run for several years now, this one turn had always been treacherous. He began to bank hard to make the turn without slowing his pace. Fully confident in his ability, he took the turn and suddenly found himself out of breath and on the floor.

Alex thought he heard someone nearby say "Ow, shit" but he couldn't be sure as the world began to fade around him.

When he awoke from the crazy dream, he was in bed and he looked out the window to think to himself, "what a crazy dream." In that moment, Alex heard voices nearby and the beeping of machines. This threw his calm morning into a panic as he tossed his covers and attempted to make it to floor to escape. He put both feet on the ground and attempted to take off in a run to get out of the strange environment when a shooting pain shot up his leg.

Alex yelped and began to fall to the ground as strong arms caught him before he crumpled into a pile of pain. Whosever these arms belonged to must have been quite strong, as they were able to pick Alex up and put him in bed with what seemed to be little effort. Alex was gripping his pained ankle when he noticed that it was bandage and set in a soft cast.

For the first time, Alex took real stocks of his surroundings and he realized he was in the local hospital. There was a strange man near his bed, which he assumed the arms that just lifted him up belonged to. Alex slowly let his eyes draw up the man. He noticed that he was in a pair of shorts and a t shirt, both covered in sweat. His muscled bulged against clothing begging to escape from its confines. Alex could tell that the stranger worked hard as his chest threatened to rip the shirt and half at the slightest movement. His arms rippled with power and size as they remained cross under that bulging chest. His eyes traveled up to his face where he noticed a jaw line that would cut paper. His lips were shaped perfectly as he broke into a smile, noticing Alex's slow take of him. Alex finally met his gaze where his green eyes were set upon the much smaller boy in the hospital bed. His hair short and cropped to his head but tossed in a way that made it look effortlessly styled. Alex gulped hard at the sight in front of him as he felt a color rush to his cheeks. He though people like this only exist in the movies.

The specimen of male beauty opened his mouth, "Hey there killer, sorry to have you wake up like this."

Alex opened his mouth but found himself parched and his lips dry. He whispered hoarsely, "What happened?"

Still smiling, the man recounted the story, "I was taking a corner then all the sudden this little dart of energy sent me flying to the ground and I looked down to see you crumped on the ground. I tried to shake you conscious, but you wouldn't wake and your ankle looked like it was twisted the wrong way, so I took you to the hospital."

Alex nodded slowly. Licking his lips, he started "Did the doctors say anything about how long this would take?"

The man frowned, "Yes, I'm sorry to tell you that you're looking at least a 3-month healing process. You can leave whenever you woke up, the doctor said."

Alex put his head in his hands. He had no idea how he was going to pay for this. He was a broke college student at the local university and was just home for the spring/summer as finals were just last week. He realized that he was being rude and did not even know the person who saved him. He met his eyes again, "Thank you for saving me, I don't even know your name."

The man smiled and stuck his hand out for a handshake, "My name is Helios."

Alex remembered that name from somewhere in a book he read a long time ago, but it was definitely unique. It seems that his confusion was evident on his face as Helios offered, "Yes as in the Greek god of the sun, my dad had a funny sense of importance."

They sat staring at each other for several seconds when Helios finally broke their gaze. He began to walk out of the room when Alex reached for his hand.

Alex looked away shyly. He mumbled, "please don't leave me."

Helios tucked a stray lock of hair behind Alex's ear, it must have fell free from it's ponytail during the run. This caused their gaze to lock again. "You don't have to worry, I'm just grabbing the doctor," Helios said. With that, he took out of the room and began talking to someone at the desk. After several seconds, he took off in a random direction with confidence that made him seem like he owned the place.

Alex began thinking of the last few moments of consciousness. He had never considered himself gay in the past and had several meaningful relationships with girls. In fact, he had never felt such attraction to another human being. It was almost painful to avert his eyes from the depth of the green inside Helios'. He found himself deeply uncomfortable with the idea of being so enamored with anyone, let alone another man.

He was still lost in thought as Helios and a doctor looking fellow walked in. This doctor was curiously wearing a suit over his lab coat and looked like a more weathered version of Helios but the resemblance was uncanny.

The doctor looked down at a chart then up to meet the gaze of Alex with a warm smile. "So, I hear my son ruined your running season, he stated."

All Alex could do was nod along, stunned by the presence of the two men in front him.

Helios made a quick motion placing both palms together and bringing his head down to a bow. "I am so so sorry for this. My father has agreed to cover the bill as an apology."

If Alex was stunned before, now it was a case of pure wonder. After several seconds of silence, he began to sob. Several seconds passed and his sobs turned into choking as tears flowed freely down his face. In a sobbing voice, "I am sorry I don't know what's wrong with me, no one has ever done anything like this for me, I've been poor for as long as I can remember," Alex said.

The doctor reached out and placed a calming hand on Alex's shoulder. Their gaze met, with less intensity than Alex's and Helios' but still with a purpose. The doctor began, "Helios, why don't you take young Alex back to our place to meet your sister? Perhaps she would be willing to help Alex with the rehabilitation process and gods know that both of you can use new friends."

Helios curtly nodded and reached a strong and calming hand out for Alex. Alex took it and found himself quickly picked up and cradled in Helios powerful arms once again. A nurse walked by with a wheelchair and was surprised to see her patient walking out in the arms of another. She began to say something, but Helios just kept walking with a calm assurance.

The whole walk out of the hospital, Alex continued to cry at the kindness showed to him. It wasn't until he felt the sun on his back and the fresh air begin to flow freely that he stopped clutching and hiding in the chest muscles of Helios. Helios looked down at him and met his gaze meaningfully one last time before he placed him down on a seat of what Alex quickly determined was a motorcycle.

Helios left as he moved to the front and straddled the mechanical beast under him. As he entered the key into the ignition, the motorcycle roared to life and Alex slightly yelped. Alex began to say, "I have uh never ridden on one of these before." Before he could get the full sentence out, Helios grabbed both Alex's arms and locked it around his body as he turned and whispered to him.

In such a soft tone, Helios said, "whatever you do, don't let go. Trust me, I promise I won't let you get hurt again." And with this, Helios took off and the motorcycle roared as it sped up to breath taking speeds. Alex thought he would fall off in the first moment but gripped tightly and closed his eyes, resting his head against the back of his driver.

After several minutes had passed, Alex felt the motorcycle begin to slow as they pulled up the driveway of a beautiful home in the neighborhood that Alex himself lived in. Despite the motorcycle coming to a stop and being turned off, Alex realized he had never stopped gripping Helios with all the strength his meager arms could muster. Helios began to untie his arms so he could leave the bike when Alex doubled down on his efforts to keep his protector close to him.

Several minutes passed and Helios made no second effort of trying to escape the grip of the smaller man. Eventually though, Alex loosened all on his own and Helios finally moved to pick him up again. Just before he felt his arms warp around him to cradle him, Helios once again grabbed a stray lock of Alex's hair and tucked it behind his ear. This time he learned in close to Alex's ear and whispered, "Your freckles come out in the sun." Alex shuddered as he felt the warm breath of his new protector pass his ear. They locked eyes for several seconds again before Helios began to pull away.

Helios picked Alex up and began to walk him into the house in a cradle again...