I'm really sorry about the delay; between school and writers' block, this was a really stubborn installment to write. On the bright side, the next one will be the last.

One Night
By Ryo Hoshi
Panel 2: Carnival Night

Section 1: Summertime

One of the great mysteries of his life was how Adonias managed to arrange for him to spend the summer with his family. Well, perhaps not; his parents had never been hands-on; it was actually rather a mystery to him as to why they'd even had him. They certainly were more interested in their work than their offspring.

They were completely unlike Adonias's parents, who doted upon their only child. Stein hadn't imagined that anybody could possibly be so… He didn't quite know the right term; involved, perhaps.

It'd been the best summer he could remember; this was not a high bar to make by virtue of the fact that his previous ones had been nearly indistinguishable from the other three seasons. Sometimes, the air conditioning announced its need of maintenance by ceasing to function…and his parents were never in a hurry to have it fixed, as they were rarely home.

Adonias's family was rich—and the sort who felt obligated to show it. They lived in a sizable old mansion, which Stein was told had been in their family for several generations. It was clear that his family still had the money; the only place where Adonias's parents were unwilling to indulge their son, despite everything, was in the matter of relying on the family money for a living.

The younger boy ignored the talk of such matters as college plans and illegitimate offspring. It was, to someone his age, utterly boring grown-up talk.

Besides, to the younger boy it seemed quite obvious: Adonias would do what he wanted to do, as he always did. Nothing seemed particularly likely to change it. He was firmly convinced that he had every right to do as he wished, and the younger boy had realized the futility of trying to change his lover's mind early in the relationship.

Arguing only got Adonias angry.

It seemed to Stein that the boy's family had somewhat already learned the lesson: nobody called him by anything but his nickname, even at home. He liked his nickname, a lot; the fact that the girl he'd knocked up had thought it adorable to call Adonias by his real name was apparently what had rung the death knell for that relationship.

Maybe that was why Adonias kept him from learning his real name.

Section 2: The Carnival of Light

When Adonias learned that Stein had never before been to a carnival, the boy insisted on taking him to the carnival while it was in town. As always, Stein did not argue: there was no point. Adonias would do as he wanted to do, and that was the end of it. Arguing only made him angry.

It simply wasn't worth it.

And Stein had always wanted to see what the fuss was about, for himself. It seemed a lot more interesting than sitting around listening to teachers do their best to ensure their students' interest in learning died a miserable death from cold, passionless knowledge passed down in the driest way possible. He was curious, yes, and wanted to know more about the world around him, but…there had to be a better way to teach…

But until he found some place not so regimented, he'd go exploring on his own when he got the chance.

Of course, he knew better than to be open about his relationship. People wouldn't understand, and he knew that if Adonias hadn't taken him home for the summer he'd have simply ended up back home, forgotten by his parents once again, or perhaps shipped off to some randomly-chosen warehouse of a summer camp like so many of their schoolmates had been. Stein didn't think either was an attractive option, not after having had all the attention Adonias gave him.

It was better than his parents—they'd thought so little about having him that they'd not even really thought about what to name him, simply saddling him with his mother's maiden name instead of a proper first name. He was still not sure why they'd bothered having him at all.

Really, it was a bit of a mystery how he'd ended up with any manners at all. Especially not ones that, while not perfect, were very sweet and could, much to the boy's confusion, get smiles from the girl who ran the admissions booth.

It was an exciting night, at least to somebody who had never been to a carnival before. His boyfriend played—when people could see them—a surrogate elder brother, taking him on rides and winning at the shooting booth the grand prize of a huge teddy bear that Stein had spotted and taken a sudden liking to.

Adonias had shown off shamelessly, too, showing the less appealing side of his personality as he skillfully took shot after shot, remarking upon such things as how the first gun he had been handed needed its sights fixed ("Wouldn't want this mistaken for rigged, right?") and not wasting a single shot even then. It was impressive, especially the ease with which the teenager handled the firearms.

They'd slipped off to put the bear into Adonias's car, and use its back seat—Adonias had practice using it, and Stein was learning—before returning for a few more rides.

Adonias insisted on going on the ferris wheel (and teaching the younger boy what Stein would later realize was not, in fact, a typical way of occupying time) with, thoughtfully or perhaps by sheer accident, the right timing to be stopped at the top for some of the evening's fire works show.

Afterwards, though, it was late and time to leave.

Section 3: The Carnival is Over

Of course, any evening out with Adonias included a stop at Lovers' Lane. Later, much later, he'd admit that he should have expected it.

At the time, he was just thankful that most of the damage had been done to the bear—cut apart, now—instead of himself.

Adonias had been…in a mood, most of the night, for reasons Stein did not know. The younger boy was confused, having been doing his best to be polite, nice, and, in an unintentional byproduct, cute.

His boyfriend had never seen fit to make his moods easy to guess.

Stein, used enough to that, eventually shrugged it off and settled down to sew his bear back together, replacing the lost ears with new…long ones, because that was what he could manage. He decided he liked the stitched-together effect, even if it did mean he later had to carefully explain that it was not a rabbit. Despite the long ears.

I hope this pleases you; please review, it does help me get the next chapter done sooner, and if you're in a hurry for more, try Another Night.