I do not know if they talked or went to bed together on that first night. For a long time they just held each other out there under the stars. And people say they noticed how tightly O was holding Boy, pulling him closer and closer to him, as if he was clutching at him, and how he smelt Boy too, taking in big draughts of the air around him, as if he was a man just escaped from drowning holding onto something and pulling the sweet night air down into his lungs in great grateful gulps.

Text: Excerpt, Ready to Catch Him Should He Fall, Neil Bartlett
Image: Unknown

Tagged: Neil Bartlett, Ready To Catch Him Should He Fall, vintage male affection, vintage photo