Joaquín smiled as he heard the sound of a guitar being softly played. Quickly, he ducked and ran his way around the inside of the bullring lest Carlos saw him before coming to a stop in front of a hidden door in the side of one of the stands. Standing for a minute, Joaquín listened to the sweet melody of chords as he observed the cracks in the door. Manolo had asked him to meet him urgently in their secret hiding place. Joaquín chuckled slightly to himself upon remembering when they had first dubbed this little place as theirs.

"Manolo! We shouldn't be here!" Joaquín whispered loudly.

"Shush Joaquín, my Papa will hear us!" Manolo whispered back, pointing to the bullring entrance.

"That's exactly why we shouldn't be here!" Joaquín tried to reason with his friend once again but upon realising that he was being ignored just huffed and tiptoed along the bullring after Manolo. A thump! was heard behind them, causing Joaquín to spin around, assuming the worst. Eyes darting around, the young soldier continued to walk backwards. He only stopped when he bumped into something – or someone.

"AHHH!" He exclaimed as he fell to the dusty floor. Above him he heard quiet chuckling. Opening his eyes (and wondering when they closed in the first place) he saw Manolo above him trying not to burst into giggles. Grumbling Joaquín stood up and shot Manolo the best evil eyes he could manage. This just caused Manolo to finally lose the battle within him and burst into peals of laughter. The thump! came again, louder this time and a voice echoed out of the hall connecting the entrance to the ring.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" At the sound of the voice, both boys eyes widened when they realised who the voice belonged to.

"Papa!" Manolo whispered, fear filling his face.

"Where are we gonna hide?" Joaquín asked his heart racing. Manolo quickly looked towards the entrance before grabbing Joaquín's hand and pulling along the side of the nearest stand to them.

"Hello? Come out! I know you're there!" Carlos' voice came closer and closer with every second that passed. Manolo pulled Joaquín along as fast as he could and just as Carlos came into the bullring, he opened a door that Joaquín had never seen before, shoved him through, followed and swiftly closed the door. Both boys collapsed onto the floor in the semi-darkness, still grasping each others hand tightly, as if to reassure each other that everything would be alright. In the darkness, they sat straining to hear the footsteps of Manolo's father. They came and went quickly and soon it was just them in the bullring. Well in a dusty dark room within the bullring.

"Manolo? Where are we?" Joaquín went back to whispering, scared that Carlos was going to come back.

"In the place I was taking you in the first place." The young Sanchez stood up and disappeared for a moment. Suddenly the room was flooded in light. It was a dim light but after sitting in the dark, Joaquín couldn't help but squint. After a moment, he could open his eyes properly and looked around. What he saw made him gasp. Half of the room was covered in musical instruments and music sheets. Manolo's guitar also stood on its stand in the corner. 'So that's where it went after Carlos threatened to take it away' Joaquín thought to himself with a small smile. He let his eyes wander further around the room and saw eagles. Wait what? Moving closer, he saw that pictures of eagles were drawn onto the wall. Books on fighting stances were on a shelf and dummies were lined on the wall.

"Manolo. What is this?" He turned to find his friend and ended it up face to face with him.

"Do you like it? I thought we could hang out here when we have spare time. I could teach you the guitar and you might be able to teach me how to fight?" The younger boy blushed. "But we don't have to if you don't want too." He quickly continued. "But I totally understand if…" Manolo cut himself off when Joaquín took his hand and placed a light kiss upon the knuckles.

"I think it is wonderful Manolo." Joaquín smiled gently. "Thank you."

Shaking his head, Joaquín smiled as he came out of his trace. He still remembered the softness of Manolo's hand on his own, the slightly calloused fingers brushing against his, the way that Manolo had smiled, almost shyly. He chuckled once again and swiftly opened the door on realising that he probably should have entered at least five minutes previous. Inside, he saw Manolo on his side of the room surrounded by random pieces of paper and nibbling on his lip – a sign that he was nervous.

"Hey buddy!" Joaquín said loudly, causing Manolo to jump and drop his guitar.

"Oh hey Joaquín." Manolo said, picking his guitar up off of the floor and walked over to him. Joaquín noticed that his friend's hair was mussed up slightly as if he had been running his hand through it repeatedly. Manolo remained silent as he took Joaquín's hand and lead him over to the couch they had put in the middle of the room for both of them to just sit and talk. Joaquín sat down on it and watched as Manolo walked back over to retrieve his stool and placed it in front of Joaquín. He sat on it and cradled his guitar in his hands for a moment before looking up at Joaquín.

"I've written a song for you." He held up his hand to stop the soldier from talking. "Please just hear me out. It's gonna explain everything I've been feeling lately." A quick strum on the chords to make sure they were all in tune and Manolo started to sing.

Captured effortlessly
That's the way it was

Happened so naturally

I did not know it was love

The next thing i felt was

You holding me close

What was i gonna do?

I let myself go
And now we're flyin' through the stars
I hope this night will last forever
I've been waitin' for you

It's been so long
I knew just what i would do

When i heard your song

Filled my heart with your bliss

Gave me freedom

You knew i could not resist

I needed someone
And now we're flyin' through the stars
I hope this night will last forever
Oh oh oh oh

Ain't nobody
Loves me better
Makes me happy
Makes me feel this way
Ain't nobody
Loves me better than you

I wait for night time to come
And bring you to me
Can't believe i'm the one
I was so lonely
I feel like no one could feel
I must be dreamin'
I want this dream to be real
I need this feelin'

I make my wish upon a star
And hope this night will last forever

Ain't nobody
Loves me better

Makes me happy

Makes me feel this way

Ain't nobody

Loves me better than you

And first you put your arms around me
Then you put your charms around me
I can't resist this sweet surrender
Oh my nights are warm and tender
We stare into each other's eyes
And what we see is no surprise
Got a feeling most with treasure
And a love so deep we cannot measure

Ain't nobody
Loves me better

Makes me happy

Makes me feel this way

Ain't nobody

Loves me better than you

The last note hung in the air as Manolo avoided his friends gaze. The sound of something moving made him look up and he was surprised to see that Joaquín was kneeling on the floor in front of him. He shrunk back under Joaquín's intense gaze.

"Joaquín? Are you mad?" Manolo whispered, afraid of the answer. Instead of answering, Joaquín smiled gently and leaned forward. When he was inches away from the guitarrista's lips he whispered.

"You work it out." With that, he pressed his lips against Manolo's. The younger man froze for a moment, absolutely astounded. Joaquín was kissing him. Joaquín! His life long crush was kissing him!

Joaquín pulled back, thinking that Manolo had frozen out of disgust before Manolo wrapped his arms tightly around Joaquín's neck and pulled him as close as possible whilst deepening the kiss. They continued until both were out of breath and had to pull away. Breathing heavily, Joaquín put their foreheads together.

"Manolo?" He whispered softly.

"Hmmm?"

"I love you." At this Manolo broke into the biggest smile Joaquín had seen on his face since María had left some eight years ago.

"You know what?"

"What?"

"I love you too." Manolo grinned again before pulling his love into another kiss.