The night was really one of those murder mystery nights. Complete with howling wind, sheets of rain, and deep pitch-black darkness. With the dark storm clouds and mist outside, you couldn’t see anything outside the window. It was like looking out into a sea of darkness. JC almost expected to hear shrill screams in the night.

So it really didn’t help when the power went out.

At first, the lights flickered and the television popped on and off, but JC didn’t think much of it. Trees surrounded his house and whenever there was a storm, his power always flickered, from the tree branches agitating the cables. But the power never went out.

Until tonight, of all nights.

At first, the lights just zapped off and on and off again. But then they stayed off. JC could barely see two inches in front of his face, let alone anything else in the house.

“Damn,” JC muttered. He heard the echo of his curse rebound and resound in his quiet house.

Everything was now deathly silent – the stereo was no longer blasting and the television set was quiet as well. The clanking sounds of the dishwasher ceased and the hum of the heating stopped. In the silence, the only thing JC could hear was the harsh sound of his own breath. It seemed loud and abrasive in his ears, much louder than it usually sounded. His heartbeat seemed as loud as a bass drum.

After just standing stupidly in his living room for a moment, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness, JC maneuvered his way to the kitchen. In the cabinets, he felt around with his hands until they grasped the waxy length of a candle. JC found the matches and lit the candle carefully. He stuck it into a flower vase and found his way upstairs by its small, unsteady light.

JC crawled into bed, figuring it was late anyway. He might as well just get some sleep and hope the power would be back by morning.

* * *

Thunder crashed loudly, as if the sky was being torn apart violently.

JC’s eyes flew open. He didn’t sit up but he was aware that his heart was pounding wildly, for reasons unknown. It was probably just a bad dream. As he looked around, JC saw the power was still off and the night outside was probably even darker than before. The only light came from his single candle, which he had put on his nightstand. The flame was weak and flickering, making the shadows dance.

Normally, JC could sleep through anything, but that thunder… he shuddered and huddled deeper into his blankets, which were already a tangled mess about him. His pillow was damp from sweat. JC stared at the ceiling and breathed evenly, slowly. He was too old to be frightened of storms.

JC closed his eyes, feeling sleep slowly take over again. He was hovering on the edge of consciousness when another sound woke him up immediately. Someone had opened the front door. JC bolted upright, straining to hear.

Admittedly, JC lived in a big house, so it was hard to hear the front door open from his bedroom on the second floor. But JC had been living here for a while and now the faint sound was unmistakable. Who was opening his door?

“Probably one of the guys,” JC mumbled to himself. They might have been out late at night and didn’t feel like driving all the way to their homes in this weather, and opted to come to JC’s instead. That had happened more than once. It had to be them. After all, who else had keys to JC’s house? The alarm system hadn’t gone off, so of course the person needed to have a key. Settling himself with that thought, JC lay back down, reassured.

Light footsteps went up the stairs. The sound was so faint that JC thought he might be imagining it. Maybe he was just hallucinating it all – stormy nights made people do things like that.

But no.

The footsteps got just a little bit louder, until they stopped, right outside JC’s bedroom door. JC waited.

Whoever was on the other side of the door didn’t say a word.

Exasperated, JC finally called out, “It’s open!”

The bedroom door creaked open, slowly. When did the door start creaking? JC needed to oil the hinges sometime soon. As the door opened, an icy breeze gusted in, making JC shiver under his blankets. The breeze also blew out the candle, sinking the bedroom into deep darkness. JC couldn’t see whoever was standing in his doorway.

“Who’s there?” JC asked. That wasn’t a tremor in his voice. No, it wasn’t.

The visitor made no reply but JC could hear those soft footsteps move closer to his bed. As the person came closer, JC could make out an unmistakable figure. Upon realizing who it was, JC could not have been any more shocked.

“Justin?!”

The visitor, now clearly Justin, only moved closer. He sat on the edge of JC’s bed, watching JC with impossibly luminous dark blue eyes. He didn’t say a word. Justin was clad in worn jeans and a light blue shirt. In the darkness, JC could barely see Justin’s body – it seemed to blend into the darkness. All JC could see clearly were Justin’s eyes. He was giving JC one of those looks… So intense… focused…

“If you’re trying to scare me,” said JC, forcing a smile, “it’s working.” Why was JC nervous? It didn’t make sense. This was just Justin.

Still, Justin said nothing in reply.

“Why are you here?” JC realized he was whispering.

Those intense eyes, as penetrating as lasers, never wavered from JC. Justin leaned closer, closer, until he was practically inhaling JC’s panting breaths. Finally… finally, Justin spoke. He spoke slowly, carefully. “I love you.”

“Wha…?” JC didn’t finish his sentence because then Justin kissed him.

For some strange reason, Justin’s lips were cold. But… they were… oh… soft. And smooth. And perfect… perfect… perfect… Even though Justin’s lips were cold, his tongue was hot and warm and wet and… No, this was wrong, this was Justin. JC couldn’t go around kissing his best friends like this. This had to be a dream. A really, really hot and sexy and frightening dream. This was…

One of Justin’s hands slowly stroked up JC’s thigh, up and up, until… Justin squeezed gently. JC gasped into Justin’s cool mouth and his hips lifted upwards, involuntarily. He almost came.

Oh my God.

JC wasn’t sure if he actually said that aloud, but he was sure as hell thinking it.

Justin’s cool lips formed a smile as he continued the kiss. His hips moved in ungodly, beautiful and wonderful motions.

* * *

When JC woke up the next morning, he was alone.

His bed was a tangled pile of blankets and sheets, but there was no one else in them, except JC. No one was in the bathroom either.

JC was alone.

The power was back. The stereo was blaring talk radio and the television was playing the morning news, about the storm wreckage in the area. The sky was still overcast and gray, but a little bit of sun peeked through the clouds.

Remembering last night… was that a dream? Was it?

If it was a dream… it had been one hell of a dream. It seemed so real. If it wasn’t a dream… then he needed to talk to Justin. Soon.

JC took a deep breath. He flopped back on his pillows. He tried to pretend that he wasn’t getting hard just thinking about last night. It didn’t work.

* * *

“Hello?”

“Hey, Justin.”

“Hey, man. What’s up?”

“Umm. Not much. That was a pretty bad storm last night, wasn’t it?” JC cradled his phone on his shoulder and scratched his ankle. He tried not to be turned on by Justin’s voice. Funny, but Justin never had this effect on JC before. Well… maybe a little.

I love you.

JC thought it was ridiculous that he’d start blushing from the voices in his head.

“Yea, you’re okay, right? No trees fell down on you or anything?”

JC bit his lip. “I’m fine.”

“That’s good.” JC thought it was adorable that he could hear Justin’s smile in his voice. “So what are you calling me about?” Justin asked.

“This is gonna sound stupid, but…” JC sighed. “Did you come over to my house late last night? During the storm?”

“No… why?”

Shaking his head, JC thought, Of course it was a dream, you idiot. Out loud, he said into the phone, “No reason. I just thought someone came by. Wondered if it was you.”

“No… not me. You could try asking Joey or Chris.”

“Yea, okay… I’ll talk to you later then.”

“Okay. Take care, man.”

“You too.”

JC thumbed his phone off and sighed. He lay down on his couch and stared at the ceiling. It was already late into the afternoon, with the sun dipping below the horizon. Since this morning, JC hadn’t managed to work up the courage to actually call and ask Justin, until now. What if it hadn’t been a dream…? But of course it was a dream.

That didn’t change that fact that JC had kind of… sort of… hoped that maybe it had been real.