“Oh look!”  Sterling pointed towards the underbrush.  “See the chipmunk?”

I took a few steps forward, crouched near the bush, and positioned my camera.

“Okay, I’m kind of jealous,” Sterling complained.  “Ren keeps getting to get like three inches away from all the animals because they like fairies and I’m not good enough for them, apparently.”

Riven looked at his cousin, amused.  “Hey, all of us are in the same boat.  Except Ren.  He’s just…special.”  He gave me a smile as I returned to him, shaking his head a bit as I got close enough to take his hand.  “It still surprises me that you’re taller than me now,” he explained, reaching up to ruffle my hair.  “I should be used to it after a couple of weeks of seeing you, but I’m not.”

I beamed at him.  “Well, I like it, it’s easier to kiss you now.”  I leaned over to bury my nose in his hair, breathing in his scent, then, to prove my point, kissed his temple.  I was only about an inch or two taller than him, but I still liked that access to kissing him was easier.

Riven rolled his eyes but I noticed he was smiling slightly as he pulled me along after Sterling and the adults, still keeping his fingers linked in mine.

We’d made good on our wish to get to kiss again the first day I’d gotten to Willen Cove before we left.  Riven had been showing me the progress of his flowers and I couldn’t take it anymore and had just grabbed him and kissed him.  He’d been startled, then wrapped his arms around my neck and encouraged me to relax, bringing my intense, almost worried kiss into something more slow, warm, and passionate.  When we’d broken apart, he’d smiled at me and then buried his face in the curve of my neck.  “That’s better,” he’d murmured.

I was still getting used to the idea of being able to hold his hand, hug him, and kiss him freely.  After months of just communicating by phone, getting to actually touch him was an adjustment, but one I was eager to make.

“Keep up, lovebirds,” Gwen called back to us.  “We’re trying to make it to the top of the mountain before the sun sets, you know?”

For some reason, we were camping up here.  I had no idea why – actually, I think it had something to do with reports of an amazing sunrise or something, which might make for some good pictures – but I wasn’t about to protest.  First, fairy, sleeping in nature is perfectly fine with me.  Second, I’d be sharing a tent with Riven and Sterling, so again, no complaints on my end.

We tried to catch up, but I kept getting distracted with potential picture opportunities, and Riven always stayed behind to keep me company, so we were the last ones to reach the top.  Now that I’d started really looking into photography, I was discovering I loved it and had so many ideas about possible pictures and how to show a different side to nature than what other people usually saw.  Riven seemed to enjoy my enthusiasm and always loved the pictures I took – although his opinion could have been biased given his boyfriend status – so at least he didn’t seem to mind the reason we were late.

“You’re the last ones here, you’re responsible for washing dishes tonight,” Bruce informed us as we arrived.

I wrapped an arm around Riven’s shoulders.  “Totally worth it.”

Sterling rolled his eyes.  “You know, when I heard you were into photography, I figured you’d be taking pictures of Riven every 10 seconds, but I’ve been surprised you’re just taking pictures of all the animals.”

I looked at Riven, surprised to realize Sterling was right.  I’d completely forgotten that there was a beautiful creature here with me that I could take pictures of.

“Uh-oh.  No,” Riven started to shake his head, ducking under my arm to escape.  “I don’t like that look in your eyes – Sterling!  Why did you suggest that to him?”

Sterling stuck out his tongue and laughed at Riven as he tried to escape from me, only to get caught in a few feet when I wrapped an arm around his waist from behind, almost lifted him off his feet, and pressed a kiss to the back of his neck.

“I’m gonna need you to model for me later,” I whispered to him, “tomorrow or sometime.  I need a picture of you.”  How had I not realized I didn’t even have any pictures of Riven?  As a new photographer, that was something I needed to remedy.

“Oh!  Well…in that case, do I get one of you, too?”  He tilted his head back to look at me.  “And maybe one of both of us?”

“Pretty sure that can be arranged,” I agreed.  “We’ll draft Sterling if we need to since it was his idea.”

Sterling complained loudly at that idea, but since he was grinning widely, I didn’t think he really minded that much.

Eventually, after dinner, most of them headed off to bed and I stayed outside, resting against a tree and looking up at the stars.  I could go into the tent and watch Riven sleep, but I wasn’t sure if that was okay, so I might as well spend the rest of my wakeful hours out here thinking.

That was, until I realized that Percy hadn’t gone to bed yet and was coming to sit next to me.  I immediately sat up a little, alert, worried that I’d done something to make my boyfriend’s dad upset with me.

“Relax,” he told me quietly as he noticed my expression, sitting down and keeping his tone low.  “You’re not in trouble.  We just haven’t had much of an opportunity to talk alone yet and since I’m pretty sure we’ll be family eventually – well, kind of are already in a way – I just wanted to get to know you a little better.”

“Oh.”  I hesitantly relaxed back against the tree.  “I did want to thank you, by the way.”  He seemed surprised, and I kind of motioned around us.  “For letting me come.  I know you didn’t need to, it was going to be a family thing and all.  But also,” my eyes flitted to the tent where Riven and Sterling were probably asleep by now, “for making Riven happier.  I asked you to give him a chance and you did, and I’m glad he has real family now.  I’m glad he was able to have that, after his mom.”

To my surprised, Percy laughed softly.  “And here I was going to tell you thank you for making Riven happy.  I don’t regret for one moment taking him in – you were right about how special he is and I’m glad you encouraged me to take him in – but I’m pretty sure we both know that your phone calls each day make him a lot happier than me taking him in.”

I blushed but shook my head.  “No, he got a chance for a family, and for having regular meals together and being allowed to not just exist in the house, but be part of it.  That’s a big deal for him.  I know he enjoys talking to me, and obviously I’m glad about that and I want to make him happy, but I think having a real family is a big deal, too.”

Percy gave me a warm smile.  “Well, I’m also glad that you care so much about him and look after him like you do.  Even the fact that you wanted him to have his own family when he could have potentially stayed with you otherwise – I know that took a lot for you to agree with, but I’m glad you were thinking of his interests.  It helped a lot when Riven told me you two started dating, because I know you have his best concerns at heart.”

I nodded immediately.  “Always.”

He seemed pleased with this.  “That’s all any parent could want from their kid’s partner, so I’m frankly glad I don’t have to worry about Riven on that front – he has you, and I don’t think I could have picked a better person.  Now, before we spend the entire evening talking about Riven – not that I’m really opposed to that, but I was hoping to get to know you some – tell me more about your photography, why don’t you?”

I eagerly did so, explaining how Riven had helped me identify a potential talent and now that I’d started to explore it, I was quickly becoming passionate about it.  I was also pleased that when I showed him some of my pictures, he did seem impressed – so far, Riven had been my main critic, so it was nice to have a more neutral person also telling me he saw talent there.

I really wanted to take this opportunity and run with it.  I really wanted to see if there was something there that I wanted to do as a career, and the more I explored the idea, the more I was pretty sure Riven had been right.  This really was perfect for me.

Which was part of the reason the following morning at daybreak I was in awe of the beautiful sunrise, being just as spectacular as promised, and tried to take as many pictures as possible.  I may have gotten sidetracked once by observing a sleepy Riven stumble over to sit near me, his eyes on the sunrise, and I may have taken some pictures of him sitting there sleepily before he noticed.  But mostly, I was focused on the sunrise, trying to capture it in the precious few moments it existed.

Riven got up at one point and came over to me, sliding one arm around me and resting his chin on my shoulder.  “Good pictures?”  He peered in the direction of my camera, and I turned the screen towards him so he could see some of them.  “Ooh, I like that one.  It looks like it could be on a postcard.”

I showed him some more pictures as I felt overwhelmed by a feeling of contentment, standing there on top of a mountain, in front of a beautiful view, Riven at my side.

I hoped this was what my future would always hold.

~~~~~

“Uggggh,” Riven put his head down on his desk.  “Final exams this year are brutal, and this is just junior year – I don’t even want to think about what they’ll be like next year.  Are they trying to make sure we don’t graduate or something?”

I gave him a sympathetic smile.  “I wish I was there and could help.”  I had only started high school this year, I really didn’t know much that could help him.  Then, quieter, more to myself.  “I wish we were the same age so we could go through this together.”

Riven heard, though, and gave me a curious look.  “Does that bother you?  That we’re not the same age?”

I hesitated.  “Well, not as much now.  It did, initially, because I wanted to be in classes with you and our schedules didn’t overlap at all other than lunch, and then I was worried that you might feel like you were dating a kid since I’m two years younger and two years behind in school, but at least now I don’t feel quite as bad about that,” I shrugged.

Riven paused to give me a long look.  “Yeah, I definitely don’t feel like I’m dating a kid, don’t worry.”

I tilted my head, considering his answer.  “Is that your way of saying I look manly now?”

He seemed a bit embarrassed and attempted to roll his eyes but then bit his lower lip and nodded.  “Yeah, you – you’re really hot now, Ren.  No kidding.  I – I really like how you look.”  He seemed even more embarrassed about admitting it.

I, on the other hand, was delighted.  Very few people would mind discovering that their significant other finds them attractive.  “Well, I’m glad you’re pleased, but I also need to inform you that I find you beautiful and bewitching.  I get distracted all the time just looking at you.”

He seemed even more embarrassed, enough to get a faint blush out of him.

“I keep looking at the pictures I took of you on our trip,” I went on.  “I think you might be my favorite camera subject.”

“Okay, stop,” he put his hands up to cover his face.  “Forget I said anything.  Let’s just – get back to talking about school, maybe?”

I chuckled, kind of considering teasing him some more, but he was stressed out from exams and could use a good distraction, so maybe I could come up with something else.

I almost asked him if he’d made decisions on his college choices, but changed my mind.  That was likely a stressful subject and while I really did want to ask him, I could wait until after he was past exams, at least.

“Have you finalized everything for your internship?”

Riven dropped his hands from his face and nodded.  “Yeah, I can skip a class senior year and do the internship at Dad’s company over the summer instead, and it’ll look good for my college applications.  I get to work with the computer department, and the people there seem nice.  Dad agreed to my idea that no one knows I’m his son for this, so I’m using my old last name instead.”

At Percy’s suggestion, Riven had legally changed his last name to Holt after he’d moved in with his dad.  I think Percy was kind of happy about Riven basically accepting him officially as his dad, but Riven was also happy to not use his mom’s name.

“Will you be okay with that?”  I asked tentatively, remembering the conversation where Riven admitted that he was glad not to have to be associated with his mom in any way anymore.

“Mmm, yeah, I think so.  Most of the people will probably just call me by my first name, anyway, it’s just to have a last name that isn’t obvious about my connection to Dad.  And I used it for 15 years, I think I can manage.”  He shrugged.

“You could always use Woodson,” I suggested, then felt my face turn red as I realized what I had said.

Riven looked embarrassed, too, not quite ready to tease me about the idea.  “Well, uh, maybe, I guess, I mean, I could think about it.”

We were saved from continuing that line of thought by the alarm on Riven’s phone going off.  I presumed that meant he had to go to bed, but instead he got a delighted look on his face and turned to look at me.

“It’s midnight,” he informed me.

“Okay?”  Did that mean he had to go?  I wished we could talk more, but I always wished we could talk more, so that wasn’t exactly new.

“So it’s officially tomorrow,” he prompted.

“Right.”  I mean, now it was today, not tomorrow, but sure, whatever he said.

Riven looked like he was fighting back a laugh.  “Ren…what day is it now?”

Confused, I looked at my phone, trying to remember if today was a holiday or something before I caught sight of the date and realized.

“Happy 15^th birthday, Ren,” Riven told me, his eyes bright.  “I wanted to be the first one to tell you this year.”

I beamed at him, thrilled.  “Thank you!”

He blew me a kiss through the phone.  “When we’re together next, I owe you a real kiss for your birthday, okay?”

“Fifteen?”  I asked hopefully.  “One for each year?”

He laughed.  “Sure, why not?  Fifteen kisses.”

Seeing him laugh and smile at me, getting a promise of kisses in the future, and having him wish me happy birthday – it was definitely a great way to start the day.