Well, here we have an Ambreigns sundown moment. I admit this is pretty short, but well... I hope you'll like it nevertheless.

Enjoy!

The sand gives way under my naked feet, its rough yet soft texture calming. The sea is endless, living, with tiny white foam crowns dancing on its endlessly broad back. The sight is freedom and the untainted steel blue of the sky is quiescence.

The warmth of the sun rains down on me as I slowly walk along the unstill waterline, the fading waves never touching my skin though while the velvet sound of waves on the sand washes over my mind.

A gust of wind fleets past me, tugs at my hair and brushes over the sand. Somewhere above us in the sky is a gull calling and I can hear cafefree laughter, combined with the happy barking of a dog that is chasing through the shallow water.

The air is salty on my tongue but fresh and rich, its quality cleaning with every breath I take.

My gaze wanders over the beach, seeking and finding.

You.

It is you I why I am here.

I stop and just gaze at you. You sit there in the sand, cross-legged and with your forearms resting on your knees while the sun cocoons you in golden light. Another breeze sweeps over the beach. It engulfs you, gently plays with your hair, makes the blond strands and adorable golden mess and lifts your tank a little as it crawls underneath. You dip your head back. You smile. And though still being meters away from you, I can see the sparkling in our eyes. You look... free.

The wind in your hair, the sun on your lips and the ocean in your eyes.

Handsome. Unique. Precious. Imperfection can be perfection. I know it. You are the proof.

Before I can resume my way towards you, you turn your head and meet my gaze and your smile is brightening, becomes bright enough to bring up those dimples... bright enough to make the sun jealous. It reaches out to me, that smile, and takes me by the hand, leads me closer to you until I stand at your side.

I smile back, try to make it as bright as yours but though it comes straight from the depth of my heart, it isn't even remotely as sunny as the one that shines on your lips. It is enough though, that's what the glint in your eyes tells me.

There is the dull sound of your hand patting the sand right beside you and I can't help but think that the way your nose wrinkles as you look up to me, squinting against the sunlight, looks cute.

"Joe," you say, my name a velvet sound on your tongue.

And you tell me that you want to watch the sundown.

With me. That you don't say but your eyes tell me what your lips do not as you look at me with the softest of smiles on your face. Blue velvet depth, deeper as the ocean can ever be. It makes me forget about the fact that it is actually time to hop into the car and start the long ride back home. The prospect of sitting here with you while the sun calls it a day, painting the sky with beautiful colors as it is drowing in the sea, is much too good to miss it.

The fingers of the sun slowly turn to a deep red as we sit here in comfortable silence, their touch thick and gentle on my face. From the corner of my eye I notice you digging your fingers into the sand, the golden brown powder trickling through your fingers like thin rivulets as you lift your hand back up. Again. And again. I find you staring at the horizon with an absentminded expression as I glance over to you

Dolce metà. The pet name my mother calls you jokingly when she talks with me about you.

Somehow you are, aren't you? My better half. Mia dolce metà.

Our friendship lasts longer already than other people manage to be married and so often I think that this bond we have has become so strong that it is almost as being married. We share everything. Even our lifes.

You have passed the threshold to my mind a long time ago and moved in, putting your stuff everywhere, even in the darkest corners. You live in it, just like I live in yours. This maybe hasn't been the plan but neither of us is sorry about it. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Sad is not even the right word for how I have been feeling after The Shield has been ripped apart but even though I feel guilty for it at times, that sadness is long replaced by a heavy mixture of happiness and contentment and the innocent feeling that this is right. This. Just the two of us.

"Beautiful, huh?" you ask.

"Yeah," I say while my eyes never leave your face.

I know that you mean the sundown but you know that I don't and your smile dims, becomes infinitely soft. I can't help but reach up and brush a few stray strands out of your face, my fingers stopping their task on their own as their tips touch your temple.

Funny how things have changed. We have always been close. We have fought side by side and against each other, have butted heads and we have gotten in each others face. We started as co-workers, have become friends and brother and now...? Put a label on it... If I had to, I wouldn't know how to name it. All I know is that this is real and right. My fingers dive into your hair. I cup the back of your head and pull you closer until our foreheads meet. Your fingers curl in my hair.

"Jon," I murmur. Your breath on my face. It smells sweet and of cherry-mint. "Jon..."

A touch on my thigh. Your hand. I cover it with mine, hook my fingers under your palm. Familiar. Another breeze flows through the gap between us, around us, makes your hair an adorable mess once more and I can feel it tickle my face. It sends a shiver running down my spine.

Refuelling. We both are. With the peace this place holds. With each other.

"You're missing the sundown," I whisper although I don't want to let go of you already.

And maybe I'm not the only one that doesn't want to break this contact because you only grab my hair firmer and curl the fingers of your other hand around mine tightly.

"I ain't missing anything." The low, velvety rumble that is your voice sounds like the colors which are now filling the sky. "Can feel it..."

You gently squeeze my hand at that last word. Puffs of air touch my skin and I notice that you are breathing a little faster, the breathes being shallow. Just like mine. Funny, isn't it? Nothing different to how it usually is. This is you and me. Us. But still... something has changed. Between us. That something between us has changed.

Friend, brother... but... there is more...

And in this moment there is the call of a gull that is flying somewhere above us in the rich colors of the sundown and the happy barking of a dog. There is the sound of waves washing over the sand and the salty breeze that cocoons us and soon it all will be only a nice memory.

But I know that even though I'll have to leave this moment behind... when I wake up tomorrow, my very own sun will be there and I'll feel the warmth of your golden light in my heart...

- End -

Now? Got some candy for me?