I do not own Golden Sun. It belongs to Camelot, Nintendo, and its other respective owners. This story focuses on a gay pairing and includes minor straight pairings, so don't read if you don't want to. It's also rated M because of some later chapters I have in mind, so don't read if you're not supposed to.

~o~o~o~

The Revelation

Suddenly, Ivan's composure seemed to fail him, but he turned away, looking out at the countryside.

Curious, Isaac strode up to the wind adept's side and asked, "What's wrong?"

"I don't know if I can say it," Ivan said, still not making eye contact. "I want to tell you this more than anything in the world right now, but somehow I can't find the words."

Ivan was taken aback at this turn of events. Mind racing to figure out what Ivan might want to say, he forced himself to remain outwardly calm and said, "Ivan, we're friends; you can tell me anything."

"I don't want to be friends, Isaac," Ivan barely whispering.

Isaac took a step back, stunned. All the world seemed to be falling down around him. The beauty seemed almost instantly to be sapped from the world, and he could only manage to say, "Why?"

"I…" Ivan muttered, courage seeming to fail him. Then he turned, purple eyes glowing with passion, and all but yelled "I just don't! I don't want to just be friends!"

"Just be friends?" Isaac asked. "You mean…"

But he didn't finish, because Ivan had just thrown himself into Isaac's arms. And all thought ceased as their lips met.

For what seemed like ages, the world contained only the two and their kiss.

When Isaac finally ended the kiss, he simply stood there, holding Ivan in his arms. "Why didn't you tell me?" the earth adept asked.

"I was scared…" Ivan replied. "I read your mind once when you were dreaming and saw you dreaming about me. But I wasn't sure you wanted your feelings for me. Some feel that way but reject their feelings anyway. I couldn't stand to see you do that."

Isaac loosened his hold to look Ivan in the eye. "You read my mind?"

Ivan didn't meet the gaze. "Yes…I'm sorry that I –"

Isaac interrupted him with a small kiss. He then said, "I think it's wonderful that you cared enough to find out about my feelings before doing anything. The fact that you care more for my feelings than a silly promise made to assuage silly insecurities says a lot about how much you care about what really matters."

"Thank you," Ivan replied, finally meeting the earth adept's golden eyes. "You have no idea how much that means to me.

Isaac led the wind adept to a tree, and the two sat against it in each others' arms.

"So, you were worried about me hiding my feelings?" Isaac asked.

"Yes," the wind adept responded.

"Why?"

"Once before, in Kaylay, I had a crush and read his mind to find out if he liked me," Ivan slowly explained. "This was something I've done a few times. And this one did have feelings for me, but when I approached him about it, he denied it. I continued pestering him in private, and he eventually admitted it, but said that he'd never give into those feelings. His father was in the Kaylay guard, and he would simply never accept his son as gay."

"Really?" Isaac asked, surprised.

"Yes. Homophobia isn't all that rampant in Kaylay, but it's still an issue in a lot of households. And where it exists, it's pretty scary."

"Wow…I never knew that this was an issue outside of Vale," Isaac responded. "In Vale, being gay isn't a big deal. We understand that it's just different; not better or worse. In fact, most people experiment with that quite promiscuously."

"Did you?" Ivan asked, curious.

"With a few girls, but nothing very serious. I did have a crush on a guy one time, but it never went anywhere," Isaac answered, shrugging. Ivan then felt the earth adept pull him closer. "And I've never had feelings like the way I feel for you."

Ivan gave Isaac a brief kiss, and then stated, "You know, you'd think it would be easy to have confidence when you know what's in someone's head. And I did have confidence. I even thought I was ready to tell you. But at the last minute, those doubts and worries resurfaced and stopped me… But here in your arms, I feel like I could take on the world."

"Well, we're all stronger when we stand together," Isaac said sagely. Then he teased "And man, are we together."

"So we're a couple now?" Ivan asked.

Isaac answered with a short kiss.

"Mmmm," the wind adept said suggestively. "I'll take that as a yes." He sat there in silence for a second, then pulled away to look Isaac in the face. "I've never had anyone I trusted enough to talk about stuff like this before." He smiled. "It feels nice."

"And it's wonderful to see you outside your shell," Isaac stated, answering Ivan's smile in kind. He took Ivan's hands in his, kissed them, and asked, "Why aren't you this talkative around others? You're always so quiet, even downright shy in a couple situations."

"It's not that I'm really shy. That was more me being around you before I knew how you felt. I just prefer to be quiet and withdrawn most of the time. I don't know why…there's just a part of me I often don't share with people. Mostly just close friends."

"And now your boyfriend?" Isaac asked.

"And now my boyfriend," Ivan confirmed.

Isaac pulled Ivan back into a hug. "You know, thinking back, you mostly just didn't seem all that sure about your abilities. You should be more confident about yourself as a whole. It's a shame that more people can't see this side of you."

"Maybe I should try to put myself out there more," Ivan said, pensive for a second. He then laughed. "But you're one to talk! You're always the strong, silent type to a fault."

"I just don't have a whole lot to say to most people. I just prefer not to talk simply to talk. There has to be a reason to do so before I'm going to start up a conversation," Isaac explained.

"Mmmmmm…" Ivan answered, nuzzling Isaac's neck.

Ivan begun to talk about his childhood, how had grown up in Kaylay and knew that Hammet and Layana weren't his biological parents, but he had accepted them as parents regardless. He shared the way he had felt out of place his whole life and that he had come to doubt his abilities, even though he had unique and astonishing powers. He told Isaac about some of the politics in Kaylay, and the earth adept seemed surprised at how complex the trade Kaylay handled was, and equally surprised at how well Ivan knew the inner workings of it.

In return, Ivan got to hear about Isaac's childhood, growing up with Garet and Jenna. He talked about the accident three years before when his father had been killed. He described how difficult it had been for both himself and his mother to continue on with life afterwards, and how they had finally managed to move on with their lives. He also explained that he had chosen to train himself as an adept so he could try to keep that from happening to others, as well.

They continued to talk, exploring the other's personality, trying to get to know each other better. They hadn't been able to do that, even just as friends before now.

After what seemed like hours, they finally agreed to go back to the Inn and get some rest before seeing Lord McCoy the next morning. They walked back in a happy silence, holding hands as discreetly as was possible to do so.

When they finally reached the inn, they quietly snuck to the rooms Isaac had rented. Isaac opened his door, and led his boyfriend into his room.

"Isaac…" Ivan said playfully as he was pulled into the room. "Come now, we've barely become boyfriends. You can't honestly expect that we could sleep together the first night."

This elicited a smile and the earth adept responded, "You're right, of course; I didn't really think about it. And it would be rather embarrassing if Garet wakes up in the morning and finds out that the other room hadn't been used. Although the look on his face…"

The both looked at each other for a second, then broke out laughing at the thought of Garet walking in on them. Ivan recovered first, and approached Isaac.

"Good night then," Ivan said, hugging Isaac tightly.

Isaac gave the wind adept a long, drawn-out kiss and then said softly, "Good night."

Ivan walked to the door, gave Isaac one last, loving glance, and left to go to his room. When he got there, he quickly dressed for bed, mind still spinning from what had happened that night. When he finally laid down to sleep, he smiled, knowing that the wonderful dreams he was about to dive into would someday be reality.

~o~o~o~

Hmmm... So I just updated the chapter and managed to lose the original closing comment. Oh well. Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. If you're reading this now, the next story will actually be up soon! I'm back from my hiatus and will be writing again, at least over Christmas break. And reviews are what brought me back, so if you want more, take the time to write one, even if it's just a short "Hey, I liked your story! Keep it going!"