Slowly, the sun began to set. An orange glow lit the tops of the trees, setting them aflame, as Nick tried to capture its beauty and peacefulness in his canvas with the help of the brushes and simple colors that didn't do any justice to the landscape in front of his eyes.

It was late in the afternoon and Nick wouldn't dream of being anywhere else than in the Central Park and doing what he loved the most: painting.

After graduating as an Arts Major and teaching in the university, his life didn't consist in much. His days were a mere routine, something he didn't enjoy nor hated, and the only thing he couldn't wait for at the end of the day was sitting by the park trying to capture the different scenarios played in front of his eyes.

Some of his colleagues had suggested him to placed his work in an Art gallery and he could very easily sell them with good profit, but Nick had denied. He didn't like painting to sell, that was why he was working as a teacher - to pay the bills - but painting was his hobby, something he loved and would hate to have to do it as an obligation.

His nights were spend alone as he refused to even date anyone that had ever asked him out. His interest in women was minimum and even men didn't call his attention. All he wanted was to arrive home to the soft sheets of his iron bed and drift to blissful slumber until the next day. How could be able to look for a eternal mate when he himself didn't even know what he was looking for? Someone with whom he could connect, that was for sure. Looking at each other without the need for words. The feeling of pure ecstasies at a simple touch or word. The feeling of the stars colliding and the world stops turning and you never want to let go. If he couldn't find that, then he'd better be alone for what was rest of his life, than sharing it with someone that didn't bring sheer bliss in him.

Nick let out a soft sigh as he looked at the rays of oranges. The sun was setting and he was most definitely loosing what little light he had left. He had been trying to paint the edge of the lake against the contrast of the trees with the afternoon light, but to his dismay, he left late from college out to some exams he had to review before being able to leave. It sucked big time and now he'd have to wait until the next day to finish his drawing.

As he was about to start packing his belongings, he felt something brushing along his leg. Surprise by the intrusion, he gasped. He turned around to see the object of his sudden surprise and realized it was a dog. A very nice, well kept dog, but a dog nonetheless.

The beautiful German Shepherd sniffed his leg, then turned around to look at him. His black back shone under the dim light provided by the setting sun, golden legs and pawns moved lithe and strong as he walked over closer to Nick.

"Hey you beautiful, what are you doing here?" Nick said softly to the dog. The young blond snorted in despite of himself. Right Carter, like he could answer you.

The canine kept sniffing him, probably searching for any indication that he was a threat to the animal; when he found none, the dog walked in circles by his side.

"I haven't seen you here, are you lost?" Nick asked as he started patting the dog's head. He, in response, moved his face over to Nick's and wet the young blonde's cheek with his nose.

Nick only giggled. He had never had a dog back when he was a kid, something he wished would have been different. His mother had been adamant in keeping the house spotless and a dog wasn't gonna help at it. And when he had moved into the rooms, they weren't permitted. And now, when he was living on his own, having a dog would be mean to the animal. Nick spend most of his days in college and the couple of free hours he actually got he scheduled them to painting.

"Ebel! Ebel where are you?!" A voice hollering from behind could be heard.

Nick turned around to see the owner of the voice. A tall dark haired man with piercing green eyes was walking slowly down the green hill that stood to one side of the lake, just a couple of feet from where Nick was sitting.

Dressed in only blue jeans, a tight royal blue sweater and sneakers, the mysterious man walked over to where Nick was sitting. "Ebel! You're a piece of work girl!" He expressed with a smiled as he kneeled down in front of the dog and rubbed her ears, shaking both her head and his as well.

"I'm so sorry she interrupted you." Kevin said as he realized the person sitting by his dog had been painting. White canvases and long color pencils were standing nearby the man's foot. Looking up, his sapphire green eyes met baby blue ones and shining blond locks falling onto his eyes, as he pushed them back with the back of his hand.

Enchanting man. Kevin thought to himself as his eyes caught the beauty of the man sitting in front of him. Beautiful blue eyes, shinning gold locks, pink full lips... and what the hell are you thinking Richardson?

"Nah, it's ok. I was almost finished anyway. Nice dog." Nick started patting her, just like the owner had only seconds ago. It was obvious she was very much loved by him, otherwise he wouldn't have been as worried as he looked when he was walking down the hill.

"Thanks. I hope she was nice to you." Kevin half stated, half questioned as he sat by the young man's side. That location on the side of park was isolated and very calm. The lake seemed mercerizing, totally hypnotizing. And the company was helping indeed.

"She? I thought it was a male, and yeah, she was just great." The young blond rubbed the dog's ears as she laid down by her owner's side, apparently tired after playing hide and seek.

"Good. God!, where are my manners. My name is Kevin and this little squirt here is Ebel." Extending his hand for him to shake, Kevin smiled at the man.

"It's a pleasure meeting you Kevin. I'm Nick." Nick was taken back by the man's stunning smile. A smile that could very easy run his money to the sun, making envious enough that someone, some human, was trying to warm Nick's face like it does it every day. Giving him a smile of his own, he accepted the hand shake. Looking down at the dog, then up at the owner, Nick continued. "You've got a lovely dog."

"Thanks. Do you have dogs?" Kevin questioned as he took a sit by the man's side. He had been planning on leaving and going home, catching up on some paperwork he had left behind from his last case. But now, leaving was the last thing in his mind.

"No. I don't really have time. I don't think I've got time for anything at all. After work, I don't really have my free time left." Nick said as he took a look at the setting sun. One word run through his mind: beautiful. Now, if it was from the intrinsic pinks, oranges or yellow shades of the shinning sun or from the man sitting by his side, he didn't know.

"I don't have much either, but I try. Arriving to an empty apartment is something I've always hated." Kevin stated as he looked at the pond in front of the duo. Ebel, noticing her master was probably gonna stay there for a while now, sat by his side and placed her head on Kevin's upper leg. Smiling at his dog, Kevin started patting her head tenderly. "She's my company."

"I haven't seen you here before. Do you come here often?" The words remained him of a lousy pick up line the moment they left his lips. But it was already too late to take them back, Nick realized.

"Actually this is the first time we come here." Nick smiled at Kevin reference in plural for both him and his dog. "We used to go to the park between fifth and main, but this girl." Kevin said as he patted her head a little bit more forcefully. "Got into a fight with a dog over there. Guess he was chauvinistic." Kevin smiled. "So, we chose not to got there anymore. I'd rather change parks than got into a fight with the owner."

"Too big?" Nick questioned with a grin.

Kevin laughed. "Kinda. I'd rather talk with him, but he seems a mindless person. I don't like getting into fights for something so trivial."

Nick nodded. "I know what you mean. I've been there a couple of times. Having a based argument with someone who just can't see he's wrong is one of the most traumatic experience I've had in my not so long life."

"It seems as if you've been placed in that position more often than not." Kevin said softly, knowingly. His eyes piercing onto Nick's ocean blue. Searching for something. Something Kevin himself didn't know he was looking for until now. Something he hoped the younger man was feeling as well.

"More times that I wish, yeah." Looking at the older man, Nick realized Kevin had this puzzled expression in his southern features. Nick couldn't help but chuckle at his face, he looked so cute! "I'm a teacher at Florida's south college. Some of the older teachers are so caught up in the 'good old days' that they don't realize the world is changing, and with that, the teaching is too. You can never win, you know. They've got decades of experience when I barely hold a year. It's a fight better not to fight."

"I know what you mean." Kevin locked his eyes with Nick's. His breath caught in his throat for a moment as his heart skipped a beat. "Sometimes people with either power or age forget they can make mistakes as well." Kevin had never believed in love at first sight, but now... now... after meeting this incredible man and barely talking with him for ten minutes, he would most definitely change his opinion.

"Power?" Nick asked as he tilted his head a bit. His eyes roamed through the stunning features of the older man sitting next to him. Thick eyebrows that were just inviting him to touch them; dark hair, spiky and standing up proudly, tempting him to run his fingers through it; his tanned skin, that Nick didn't need to touch to know - like he knew his heart was beating faster by the minute - that would be soft and smooth against his finger tips; and those lips... Those lips, so narrow and slightly chapped and oh so kissable. His trimmed goatee and intoxicating bear. Everything about him was intoxicating and Nick hoped - oh, how he hoped - Kevin was feeling just like him. Suddenly Nick felt himself being short of breath and undescriptively warm, even though the soft afternoon breeze was cool against his face.

"Yeah," Ripping out a piece of grass, Kevin started playing with it between his fingers. "I work for this Law Firm. Most of the guys fine men a couple of years ago. Now... now all they can think of is how much are gonna get from the next case, and if they could get to be promoted to partners." Lifting his gaze to meet the stunning blue eyes of the younger man, Kevin finished. "It's different."

Nick nodded slightly. What was it with this man, this incredibly beautiful man, that could let him speechless in just one second? How could those dark jade eyes tangle him in the intrinsic web that was the human emotions so very fast he was feeling light headed and very short of breath?

As the sun started to hide after the numerous trees that could be seen at the side of the stunning lake, the light dim slowly, letting the two man sitting by one of the trees - each one of them mesmerized by the other - that time was running short.

Nick looked up at the sky. The dark night was approaching as the sun decided he had done its share of the work for the day. His eyes loosing focus, Nick out a soft sigh. "It's getting late." He spoke up to no one in particular, his voice taking a forlorn tone.

Realizing that his younger companion was right and the day was letting the night take over, Kevin turned to look at him. Nick's beautiful features shone under the dim light provided by the sun and the setting moon. Kevin could only imagine what it'd be like to touch his pearl white skin. What it'd feel like to run his fingers down his smooth yaw and up his cheek. How incredibly soft and thin his blond gold locks would seem thought his fingers.

Placing his color pencils back in its holder, his pages in the file he held for his canvas and packing them all in his backpack, Nick tried to get ready to leave. Standing up in one quick motion, Nick looked out the lake. Beautiful sight with a enchanting man by his side, what else could he ask for?

Another chance. His mind seemed to whispered in the depths of his memory and consciousness. Another chance to meet him and talk to him. To get to know him better. To learn what makes him laugh and what makes him cry. To see him.

But that would be almost impossible, wouldn't it? Why would this incredible man would want anything to do with him? Kevin probably had better things to do than waste his time with Nick in the park capturing the intrinsic sun shades on his canvases, right?

But he said he arrives to an empty apartment. His mind reminded him.

The sound of shuffling grass against sneakers brought Nick back from his musings. Nick had never been a man of course of action. Picking up girls at bars had never been his... thing. How was that gonna change now? What could he possibly say to this charming man to make him agree with Nick to go over to his place, even if it was just to talk some more?

Wiping the grass off his jeans with the palms of his hands, Kevin turned to met Nick's gaze for just a moment. "You leaving?"

"Yeah." Nick said softly. "I've got an early start tomorrow morning." Bending down slightly, the young blond picked up his black backpack containing all his personal possessions regarding his drawing. As he stood up once again, Nick jerked his head in the direction of the cars, a silent question spoken between their eyes.

Kevin nodded slowly as both of them made their ways to where their cars were waiting. As they were two feet from where they had been sitting before, and Ebel hadn't joined them, Kevin let out a soft whistled. Barely loud enough for Nick to hear.

Two second later a bouncing and very alive dog was running by their sides. "Easy there honey." Kevin said directed to his dog. "The last thing I need is you in sugar high."

"What do you mean?" Nick questioned as he turned to look at Kevin for the nth time in only a span of ten minutes. Tilting his head slightly to the side, his eyes shown confusion.

A smirk made its way to Kevin's lips at the sight before him. As the shinning blue eyes and the reddish lips gaze back at him, the older man couldn't help but shudder. How could someone he had barely met ten minutes have this much power over him? How could just one look melt him back into a puddle of flesh? How could his heart skip a beat whenever his eyes met the sea blue ones?

"Ebel might be three years old," Kevin explained. "But don't let that fool you, she can keep up with the puppies like she's barely one."

Smiling slightly at his older companion, Nick focused his gaze back to his feet. Forcing himself to place one foot in front of the other - so he wouldn't stumble against his very own feet -, Nick tried to gain his long ago lost senses. Senses that seemed to vanish in thin air the minute the sparkling with laughter piercing green eyes found his in one mere glance.

Neither of them spoke - each one of them to drawn into their reverie trying to figure out how a perfect stranger could hold so much of a grasp in each other emotions and behavior - until they reached Nick's car, an unspoken agreement the minute they started walking towards the cars.

Reaching a gray Toyota Taurus, Nick stopped by the driver's side. "This is my car." Nick stated as he forced himself to looked into the other man's eyes. If they were going to depart in that moment, neither of them speaking ever again nor promising to see each other, the last thing Nick wanted to have in his memory was the shadow of those hunting endless green eyes.

Kevin stood up, his eyes averting between the windshield and Nick's finger fidgeting around the handle of his bag. Shifting his weight from one foot to the other, he looked down at Ebel sitting by side, waiting for her master to call them next move. To do something - anything - at all in this situation.

The jingling of keys made Kevin's attention came back to focus. Gazing at Nick, Kevin realized the younger man was trying to open his car door. He was about to walk out of his life as quickly as he had walked in. Kevin wasn't gonna see him again, that was for sure. Even thought they might leave in the same city, and frequent the same park, many unknown situations could be presented for both of them, averting them from the only place where they could find a moment of peace and solitude in the craziness that was their hectic lives.

Nick opened the driver's door slowly, dreading the moment that seemed to come closer and closer with each passing second. Placing the door between him and Kevin, Nick glanced up. Kevin's eyes were fixed with his as both of them seemed to hold their breaths for a second.

The air seemed to abandon Kevin's lungs as they stood frozen in their places. This wasn't suppose to happen. They weren't suppose to part their different ways and Kevin knew that.

If before this encounter Kevin hadn't believe in fate, he did now. He believe totally and completely that something had made the two of them go to that park that afternoon. Something had made Ebel ran out of her leash and into the other side of the park. Something had gave him the courage enough to introduce himself to the young blond that had been sitting under the branches of an autumn Florida tree. And now, something seemed to whisper in Kevin's ear that this was not the way it was suppose to end.

Just take your chance. The voice seemed to suggest softly in his inner thought. Tell him how you feel, what you want. Tell him you don't want him leaving you here, now, alone; but to take you with him, wherever it was he was going. Because it wouldn't matter, would it? It wouldn't matter as long as you were with him and those soft tender fingers that had been able to capture the abstrusely of the shades of a setting sun would move down your hand and intertwined themselves with your own.

And that voice was right - and crazy and unsettling as that sounded at the moment -, it was right. Because even thought he still couldn't believe he would find such a man, someone who could catch his attention in just a span of minutes, could exist, let alone be known and appreciated by Kevin.

So he took it. The older man decided it was worth the shot. And even if he was gonna sound unsure and unexpected, Kevin was gonna take the chance of a life time. He was gonna grab the opportunity that was laying ahead of him, barely two feet in front of him being protected by the car's door, and go with it.

"Well..." Nick started as he run his thumb over the top of the car door, trying his best to stretched the time as much as he could, just he could spend a couple more minutes - seconds, if that was all he was getting - with this man that now appeared by the side of the street. "I think I better go..."

Please, say something. Nick prayed for Kevin to be able to read his mind, his eyes if that was possible, to know what the young blond wanted. Say something. Ask me to go with you to your place, or ask to come with me. Anything. Because I know I won't be able to form a word, not a single word of everything I want to tell you - to request you.

Kevin took one step forward, trying to close whatever space was between him and that angel reincarnated that made him shiver in fuzziness as his words touched Kevin's ears. Placing his hand on the top of the car's door, Kevin met his baby blue eyes.

"Hmmm..." Kevin started and he wanted to slap himself upside the head.

You're supposed to be trying to talk with him, not mumbling! He thought to himself. Say something, say something intelligent, clever, anything but 'hmmm'.

"I was thinking... maybe we could go somewhere." This is not coming out right. Was the first thing that came to Kevin's mind the minute the words left his mouth. This is not coming out right at all.

"I mean..." Kevin stammered as he tried to say something intelligible. "I know this cafe, just around the corner. It's run by my cousin. Maybe we could have a coffee, talk some more... I don't know..." Gazing down at his feet, Kevin hoped Nick didn't think he was a dork for the way he was talking and for the secret meaning his invitation held.

The corner's of Nick's mouth started twitching upwards in a soft and tender smile. Thanks, Nick thought silently up to the heavens, thanks. Covering Kevin's hands with his own, the simple touch sending shocks of electricity through his body and hoping - and just starting to actually believe - the older man was feeling the same way, Nick answered the request, his own voice low - inviting. "I'd love to."

Kevin raised his eyes to meet shinning blue ones. As half a smile appeared on his features, he, too, could feel this connection running from his fingers to the rest of his being. "Good." Kevin said softly. "Good." Getting a tight hold on Ebel's leash, Kevin turned around and stepped onto the pavement.

Nick closed the car's door and locked it, somehow knowing that he might not need it for quite a while, at least not until both of the them run out of conversation subject - something he knew wouldn't happen any time soon. Joining Kevin, Nick stood by the older man's side as they started walking down the street.