Ribbons and Curls

"Happy Birthday." Florian's quiet words faded into awkward silence as he watched Ray's reaction. "Did I get the date wrong?" he asked, fidgeting a little, a faint blush spreading across his face. "Ray…?"

"I hate balloons," Ray said at last, managing to keep his voice level. He backed away from the closest of the floating, beribboned objects as it drifted towards him.

"I didn't know," Florian stammered, reaching out to gather them up as quickly as he could. The dozen jewel-toned balloons hovered over their bed and he had to stretch to catch the last of them, intending to banish them to the closet for now and dispose of them later. He tried his best not to look disappointed.

"Stop." Ray caught his shoulder and turned Florian, resting a hand against Florian's face gently. Obviously Florian hadn't been successful in hiding his feelings. But then, when had he ever been able to conceal anything from his lover?

Something crinkled as Ray pressed close to Florian and they both glanced down. Ray had barely noticed the curls of paper weighing down the balloons, but now he realized they were actually scrolls containing multiple pages of illustrated text. He freed one from its balloon and unrolled it, aware of the change in Florian's breathing and the sudden tension in the blond's body.

"You don't have to… It's not…" Florian tried to dismiss the object, but Ray silenced him with a shake of the head. The blond looked down and his blush deepened.

"Where did you get this?" Realization struck even as he asked the question; he'd recognize Florian's precise handwriting anywhere. But what was it doing on a scroll that appeared to be… He reached for another balloon and snatched up the scroll, opening it and scanning it quickly before repeating the process until he had freed each scroll from its balloon.

"How could you have made these copies? The only known originals are in private collections."

"Collection," Florian corrected with a smile. "They all belong to an old friend of my mother. In fact, she sold several of these books to him years ago. He was kind enough to allow me to hand-copy the sections you were most interested in."

Ray shook his head, struck speechless by the magnitude of the gift Florian had given him. It must have taken the man months to copy so many pages of those rare texts.

He set the scrolls down carefully before taking Florian into a tight embrace. How could 'thank you' ever be enough for such a gift?

Taking the balloons, Ray let them float around the room while he freed Florian from his clothing. The balloons drifted silently, mute witness to the depth of Ray's gratitude and Florian's graceful acceptance.

In the morning, with Florian at his side, Ray opened his bedroom windows wide and set the balloons free.

Feedback for Astra Plain

or email to astraplain@yahoo.com

Return to Balloon Challenge