When I wake from a deep, dreamless sleep, I need a moment to get my bearings. The early morning light is streaming in through the curtains across the balcony of the cabin and the ship appears to have stopped, as all is very quiet and calm. There is a heavy arm draped over my hip and I’m pressed back against a firm, warm body that is gently breathing on the back of my neck.

My bladder is making calls for urgent attention and I make my best effort to extricate myself without waking Evan. I appear to have succeeded, but when I step back out of the bathroom Evan is lying on his back and is wide awake.

“Good morning,” he whispers with a smile as he holds out his hand towards me. I allow myself to be drawn back onto the bed, sitting on the edge and leaning in to kiss.

“You should go and get ready for breakfast.” I tell him when we finally break apart. “You can’t go ashore in the clothes you wore last night.”

“What time is it?”

“Just after seven. We’re supposed to be going ashore at nine.”

“Shit. I really do need to get going.” He jumps out of bed and starts to search through the clothes on the floor to identify his boxers and socks from the chaos. I’m content to sit and stare at his arse as he finds his shorts and bends over to get them on.

“Are you staring at my arse?” He asks as he turns around and adjusts himself.

“Well, I was, but that looks far more interesting.” I smirk as he settles his flaccid length a bit more comfortably.

“Don’t. You’ll make me hard and we really can’t spare the time.”

“Not fair!” I turn slightly to show my already obvious arousal.

“I said don’t. You’re a real bad influence on an innocent man.”

“You’re far from innocent. Now, get dressed and get out of here. I’ll see you at breakfast in about half an hour.” I stand and head back into the bathroom to get a shave and brush my teeth.

A few moments later I hear the door to the cabin open. “Don’t forget, you’re the camera operator today,” Evan calls as he heads out.

I had forgotten, which is silly. I’m actually looking forward to being behind the camera. Evan will have to show me how everything works, but it shouldn’t be too difficult to get the hang of it. Maybe I’ll practice a bit as we walk through the ship, just to get a feel for things.

At least I’m not particularly sore from our exertions last night and my hip is now only a dull yellow-brown and painless. I was worried that I’d feel more than the slight discomfort than I have at the moment, even though it would be worth it. The sex had been good. Really good. It’s been a long time since I slept so deeply and I have to wonder how much of that was due to being in Evan’s arms.

Our ship is docked at Invergordon, the only deep enough berth close to Inverness. We are booked to go to Urquhart Castle first, so about forty miles or so. After a couple of hours there, we will be driven back to Inverness to explore the town until mid-afternoon.

It's nice to be able to walk down a gangway and step onto dry land without having to negotiate the tender. Evan has given me the camera and a very effective hand-held gimbal that means I can walk along with him and the shot will remain steady. I practice a little as we walk across the dock towards the waiting coaches, figuring out that I can walk in front of Evan with my back to him and hold the camera out to one side on the gimbal. I can flip the screen up on the camera and turn it so I can keep him in frame.

The controls on the gimbal also allow me to rotate the camera in any direction, so I should be able to sweep around slowly and capture anything that Evan wants to point out to his viewers.

“That’s a really good idea,” Evan tells me as we wait in the short queue to get onto the coach, “but I have an even better one.”

“This is okay though.” I tell him.

“Yes, but your arm will get tired by the end of the day. Download the camera’s app onto your phone. You can use it as a live viewfinder. Then you can hold the gimbal in closer to your body.”

I busy myself in the app store and soon have everything working. It probably is better, so I’ll give it a try when we get to the castle. “I take it we have plenty of spare batteries?” I ask thoughtfully.

“Yes, there should be three sets for everything. There’s also a power-bank in case your phone gets low.”

We’ve already crossed the Kessock Bridge and skirted the city of Inverness and now the shores of Loch Ness come into sight as we continue down the A82 along the northern shore of the loch.

The loch is long and narrow. It is more than twenty miles long, but little more than a mile wide. It is one of several lochs that fill the bottom of the Great Glen that leads south-west all the way to Fort William. Today, with a murky and overcast sky, the dark waters are choppy and look intensely cold.

We drive south through Drumnadrochit and then climb back towards the loch, coming to rest at the car park for the visitor centre above the ruins of Urquhart Castle.

Evan allows me a few minutes to get some stills from the high vantage point before we join the crowds below the parking area in the modern visitor centre.

Evan wants to do a piece to camera as we walk, with the castle in the background, and this means that we have plenty of time for me to take more pictures as we walk down and around the ruins.

Evan takes his camera and shoots some sweeping panoramic clips for b-roll while I am distracted by the views across the Loch. It’s just a shame that the sky is so dull and flat. We have to wait a few minutes for the crowds to clear, which seems to be an excuse for Evan to kiss me some more.

We end up having to make two takes for Evan’s walk up from the castle. Of course, this means we have to walk back down for the second attempt and by the time we get back to the coach, my legs are feeling the effects a little. As we sit on the coach for the short drive back to the city, Evan reviews the footage and seems very satisfied.

“Adam, this looks amazing. Will you be able to do a little more when we get into Inverness?”

“Of course. I’m actually enjoying it. It’s oddly satisfying, keeping you in frame as we move along.”

“Well, you seem to have got the hang of it pretty fast. Maybe I need to take you with me wherever I go.”

“Like some sort of ‘personal’ assistant?”

“Be serious. You’re really very good at this.”

“Thank you. What are we going to be doing in Inverness? Have you given it any thought?”

“Well, first we’re going to have lunch. Then I thought we’d just walk along the river and through the city centre and see what we can find that’s interesting.”

“And we’ll film stuff as we go along?”

“Yes, that’s the general idea. I do have a couple of places we should at least look at, but the rest is just winging it.”

“Is that how you usually do a video?”

“No, not really. I tend to have a script based on lots of research and follow that. I do have some for places like the Castle, as you have seen, but this is such a big trip that I couldn’t prepare for all of it in as much detail as I normally do.”

“Will there be too much for one YouTube video this time then?” I ask him, thinking about the videos I watched the other night.

“Almost certainly. I like to keep them to no more than twenty minutes. This cruise will probably need three of that length.”

“Lots of editing then. You’ll be busy once the trip is over.”

“Probably, but not too busy I hope.”

“Well, I’ll no doubt be the same. I’ve already got more work being queued up for my return.”

“Adam?”

“Yes?”

“Do you mind if I include you in an Instagram post today? I want to show a quick clip from the castle that I took with my phone and mention that I’m using a cameraman – that’s you.”

I’m still not sure how to respond to this. The whole world, or so it seems, has already seen me in another couple of posts and he has linked me already. If I’m already on the radar, then what harm can there be in making it obvious that I’m helping Evan. People can make of it what they like.

“Yes, Evan. I think it will be fine. Did you take footage with me in it?”

“Well, you were in the way, so yes.”

“What do you mean, ‘in the way’ I was working for you.”

“Not all the time. This was when you had your camera up to your eye.”

“I was probably still getting images for you. Post away though.” I take my phone out of my pocket and quickly add Evan to my following list. I don’t normally use Instagram, but I think I need to keep an eye on him.

“Did you just follow me on Instagram?” he asks when his phone pings.

“Oh, did I? I wish I knew how this social media thing worked. How do I undo it?”

“You’re very cute when you get caught with your hand in the cookie jar, aren’t you.”

“Now I’m offended. I’m cute all the time. Well, I would be, except I’m too old to be cute.”

“Okay, we’ll have to agree to disagree on that one. Come on, let’s go and find some lunch.”