Peter nodded.His hair looked silver in the near darkness.
“Ready to go for a walk?”
Theo nodded and got out of the car.Much like that night, Peter appeared at his side and interlaced his fingers with Theo’s.The park loomed darkly, but once Theo’s fear abated, the trees and bushes and winding paths appeared less threatening and more enchanted.Magical.The light sculptures they passed helped.
Peter walked them down a different path than the one they’d taken when Bernard had been after them, so before long, they were passing sculptures they hadn’t seen before.
Cute round bunnies shimmered among the trees, accompanied by fluffy, imaginary creatures with wings and huge round eyes.On another lake, shimmering paper boats floated—small ones to carry dreams and wishes, and large ones big enough to carry a person.
When music drifted through the darkness, Theo stopped.
“What’s this?”
“Art,” Peter said.“Come on.There’s no one else there, and we should take the opportunity.”
“Take the opportunity to do what?”Theo asked, but he was summarily ignored.Peter led him along through the darkness, over hills rising like the puckered skin of some primordial monster buried underneath the grass.
Behind the hillock was another installation.This one worked with both water and light.The floor of it was a metal rectangle with rows of spouts that shot water upward, set perhaps an inch apart.Theo guessed there were thirty steps on one side of the rectangle, twenty on the other.The water shot up about to twice the height of a person, and along with it came colorful light that shifted with the music that played from unseen speakers.The way the water and light shot up before stopping and resuming again turned it into something like a shifting maze, with walls of brightly lit fountains that moved and reformed as the music flowed.
And Peter kept walking straight for the fountain thingy.
“What are we doing?”Theo wasn’t sure about this, but with Peter holding on to him, he followed.
Peter spun to face him just outside the frame.“Would you like to dance with me?”
Theo eyed him, then the water.“You mean on there?”
“Of course.”He was grinning wickedly.No.Sweetly.
Theo considered it, and after a moment, he shrugged.“You know what, it’s your car.”
Peter chuckled.“I care more about my man right now.Come.”
Like two drunk fools, they stumbled onto the fountain art.
At first, Theo tried staying in the dry areas.Peter let him go to watch the attempt.Peter, of course, had no trouble outrunning the water, but the moment Theo ended up standing right on top of the spouts as they activated and got soaked, Peter broke out laughing.
“Hilarious,” Theo said, but he really couldn’t remain serious.The world looked enchanted from inside the wall of water splitting the colors of the light into rainbows.
“You’re beautiful,” Peter said, all of a sudden right in front of Theo, his arms all around him.“Like Thor when he was about to wed Thrym.”
Theo snorted.“And you look like a big, wet Viking.”
“Viking as modern people use it to sell souvenirs and video games is a made-up word, Theodore.It’s not culturally accurate.”
Peter started moving them to the rhythm.Theo didn’t really dance, but it was easy to follow Peter, step by step, around and through the water and the light.
“It also describes a certain look in a man,” Theo said.“Or should I simply say you have a Viking chest?”
Peter sighed and said something in Norse, or whatever that language really was.“You needn’t say anything, Theodore.”
His shirt was thoroughly soaked, and Theo would’ve liked to comment.Such a shame he couldn’t praise that Viking chest.
“Sure.Whatever you say, Peter.”
“I have fallen in love with you, Theodore Turner.”Peter said it casually.A statement.Not a question.No need for confirmation.
Theo didn’t say anything, though the words reverberated around his mind.He let Peter sway them as if the water maze were a dance floor and they the dancers following the music.It was a perfect moment.There was magic in the air.Theo had no idea if Peter had planned this, or if he’d just brought him here on a whim.
