Episode 1: Oh thou, my lovely boy.

“Excuse me…”

The sandy haired boy sitting at the table with his nose in a menu looks up at the source of the voice. A dark haired man with an inquisitive look on his face is standing at the side of the table, the top few buttons of his blood-red collar shirt open, exposing a well-built chest and a silver medallion. The sandy haired man gapes slightly before pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose and stammering a reply.

“Y… y… yeah?”

“Are you Julian?” the standing man asks silkily, a slight British lilt in his voice.

Julian nods.

“Pleasure to meet you. I’m Romero.” Romero flashes a devilish grin and extends his hand for Julian to shake. Julian hesitates a bit before reaching out and shaking the other man’s hand, which he holds on for a second too long.

“You’ve got a strong grip.” Romero remarks, and Julian stutters out an apology and quickly releases his hand, and Romero laughs lightly. “And Marci never said how hot you were.”

Julian blushes slightly, pushing his glasses up his nose again. 6 foot 5 with sandy blonde hair, light blue eyes, perfect teeth, a rock hard body from years of growing up in the countryside had gotten him a fair share of attention from the girls. Unfortunately for those girls, that interest wasn’t reciprocated back, and instead Julian spent most of high school with his head buried in a book, and wearing baggy clothes complete with large framed glasses to offset his natural good looks. It wasn’t till he got to university that he even started dating – and even then, he still showed no interest in the girls.

Romero sweeps down onto his seat across from Julian, waving at a waiter to bring him a menu, before pressing his fingers together and leaning on the table to examine Julian as Julian sits quietly. A few seconds pass before someone says something.

“You know what? I’m sorry if I came across rather blunt there.” Romero apologizes. “Let’s start over… I’m Romero Montavius.”

Despite being uncomfortable, the corner of Julian’s mouth goes up in a smirk upon hearing the other man’s name, a reaction Romero has gotten countless times – at least one that didn’t involve the heavy teasing as the bullies of his youth employed. Romero smirks back, tilting his head to one side.

“See? I knew there was a smile hidden there somewhere.”

“S… sorry.” Julian stammers back. “I’m Julian Smith.”

“Nice to meet you Julian Generic-American-Last-Name.” A waiter brings Romero a menu and he takes it, opening it up and glancing through it.

Julian chuckles half heartedly and retreats to sipping from his glass of water as an awkward silence descends upon the table, desperately trying to remember the pre-chosen conversation topics so as to hear that delicious accent again.

“Blind dates are always a tad awkward huh?” Romero says, breaking the silence, and Julian smiles weakly at him over his glass, glad for another chance at conversation.

“Dunno. T… this is my first time doing this sort of thing.”

“Really now? I’d guess that you’d get a lot of dates the normal way.”

Julian chuckles to himself and sighs lightly. “Not exactly. I think they get turned off by my insecurity, low self esteem, and overall social awkwardness.”

Romero grins. “I don’t get much either. I’m just plain weird.”

“I… I kinda like weird.”

“And I like hot, insecure men.”

Julian grins. “You are weird.”

--

The cruise ship Pinafore cuts through the waves at 6:43 pm, heading on its routine trip across the Atlantic Ocean. Eight hundred passengers and one hundred crew members are on board.

“Captain, reports from the mainland are mistaken. The storm changed directions and we’re not going to be able to navigate around it.”

“Damn,” says Captain Simmons, his brow furrowing in worry. “Make the announcement for all the passengers to get below deck and have the crew brace for the storm. Call the coast guard, inform them of our current position – it looks like we might have to try and sit this one out.”

The slightly choppy waves start becoming larger as the wind begins to pick up, and the passengers, most of whom were eating dinner, are told to go back into their rooms and stay out of the range of sharp or other potentially dangerous objects. The waves get even larger as the full brunt of the storm slams into the ship, as the crew struggles to maintain control of the ship. People on board are crying and praying – they don’t know for sure if they will survive this incident. The waves swell to tremendous heights, tossing the ship around as if it were a plastic toy. Out of the depths, a monster of a wave raises up, and the crew can do nothing as the large wall of water descends upon them all.

--

“God, I still can’t believe you’d like Shakespeare as well!” Julian exclaims, shaking his head in disbelief.

Romero smirks. “Same here. Gay men are supposed to be cultured, and yet you’re actually the first person I’ve met who actually reads his work without being forced to. What among his vast repertoire do you like the most?”

“Call me a sap, but I rather like his romantic side. The sonnets, the…” a beeping sound interrupts Julian, and he reaches into his pockets to pull out a cell phone. “Oh sorry, um… can I take this?”

Romero waves his hand in dismissal. “Sure, go ahead.”

“Thanks.” Julian gets up and walks outside the restaurant, leaving Romero. Romero smiles to himself – most of the men he dated were shallow and uninteresting and it isn’t often that he finds someone as captivating as Julian. There was something about Julian that was both so deliciously vulnerable and at the same time solid and definite. It was the strangest thing. And plus, Romero admits to himself with a smirk, he hadn’t stopped picturing him naked all night. He looks around the restaurant. It was one of those more casual type restaurants – not somewhere that Romero would normally dine in. Romero imagined that gay men would have had more taste in decorating – The walls were adorned with parts from vehicles, there were semi-tacky neon signs hanging in different places, and there was a bar in one corner complete with a television set on a shelf dangling from the ceiling.

At the moment a number of people were gathering around the bar, gazing up at the television set. Curious, Romero stands up and makes his way to the set, seeing that everyone was looking at a news broadcast.

“The Pinafore, a luxury cruise ship, carrying approximately nine hundred passengers and crew, sailed headlong into the hurricane Bertha just little over an hour ago. The last message from the crew was received about a hundred kilometers off the east coast of Canada. The ship has apparently capsized and is slowly sinking to the bottom of the ocean. According to the message, the ship is currently slowly filling up with water, and the air supply is steadily diminishing. Rescue at the moment is impossible due to the storm which is still in that area. We can now only hope, and pray for all those on board.”

--

“Dad, any sign of the ship?”

“Your sister is trying to sense the passenger’s thoughts, but this storm is giving her grief. Your mother is trying to steer this storm away, but I don’t see her having much luck with that either.”

A normal family wouldn’t be standing out in the middle of a raging thunder storm, trying to speak over the din of the lightning and thunder. But then again, a normal family wouldn’t be floating a few hundred meters over the Atlantic Ocean while wearing comfortable yet easy to launder matching spandex outfits. Those spandex outfits wouldn’t be bright yellow either. However, The Remarkables weren’t any ordinary family. Mr. and Mrs. Remarkable had raised two children into the life of super-heroism, and while other families spent time together by going on vacations, The Remarkables spent their time together saving lives and defending the values of peace and justice.

The young man, the elder of the 2 children of The Remarkables scans the horizon. He sees his younger sister a few hundred meters away floating in the air, her eyes squeezed shut in the effort of concentration. Lightning is rain dances around her figure, threatening to strike her at any moment. He turns back to his father.

“I’m going to dive in, I know there’s not much chance of getting a visual on this ship, but it’s worth a shot.”

“Alright. I’ll have your sister send you a telepathic message if she picks up anything.”

The young man nods in acknowledgment and dives into the frigid Atlantic water. He can easily hold his breath for an hour, two, if the need arises, and the low temperature of the water is barely a factor as he zips around under the waves. However, the water is still dark and murky, and he doesn’t catch a single glimpse of the capsized vessel.

Suddenly, a female voice rings around in his head. Bro, I’ve got a location. From where you are… turn to your left for about eighty meters and down about two hundred. I’m sending Dad to help.

The young man immediately veers to his left, following his sister’s directions. About eighty feet to traveling in that directions, he plunges straight downwards. It’s not long before he sees the ghostly image of the Pinafore, upside down on an underwater ledge. The water pressure here is far too large for his sister or his mother to come help, but it aside from a slight squeeze in his ears, the young man isn’t bothered.

A hand on the young man’s shoulder causes him to turn around. His father is behind him. His father points to the starboard side of the ship, indicating that he wanted his son to get that side as he himself will take the port side. The young man nods and makes his way to one side of the ship, as he sees his father get to the other. He grabs hold of a stable looking piece of the ship and, straining his muscles, he begins to lift the ship off the seabed. Together with his father, they begin to slowly move the ship upwards towards the surface. Meter by meter, they push the capsized ship upwards till about a hundred meters underwater, where a woman in matching yellow spandex is waiting. Suddenly, the ship jolts, and the young man feels the ship rising faster because of the telekinetic assistance provided by his mother. Together, the three of them lift the Pinafore out of the water and into the air, and begin to head westwards out of the storm.

Do not be alarmed. The sister psychically transmits to all of the people on board the ship. The Remarkables have got you. We are now going to carry you to the harbor in New York City.

A great cheer comes out from within the Pinafore, and the young man flashes a grin to his father on the other end of the ship as the three of them fly at near the speed of sound towards the harbor.

“Hey Mom? Dad? Can we hurry this up?” he shouts at his parents as they fly out of the storm’s area.

“What’s the big rush Remarkable Boy?” his sister asks, flying alongside him. “why not bask a while longer in the afterglow of a job well done?”

The young man blushes slightly. “W… well… I was kinda on um… a date.”

His sister’s eyebrows raise slightly at this. “Oh my! In THAT case, we really do need to hurry. After all Julian, those really don’t come around that often for you.”

--

“I’m so sorry I took so long, it was my parents, they had this whole spiel about how I didn’t visit them often enough and stuff.”

Romero grins at Julian, who takes his seat again. “Not a problem. I spent the better part of the last fifteen minutes listening to the news anyways… uh… why is your hair wet?”

“Oh. Uh. I also went and freshened up a bit in the bathroom after the phone call. Tried reapplying some gel and didn’t like how it looked. So what news did I miss?”

“Well, there’s this cruise ship that…”

They are interrupted by a shout from the bar. “They found the ship!”

The people around the restaurant start to crowd around as the barkeep turns up the volume on the television. The same reporter is speaking.

“… although injuries are plenty, actual casualties were few, thanks to a timely save by The Remarkables.”

Around the restaurant people broke out into applause, and Romero turned back to Julian.

“That Remarkable Boy is quite the celebrity around here isn’t he?”

Julian takes a big gulp of water. “Yeah, well, he IS after all a gay superhero. How many of those have we ever had?”

Romero shrugs. “I guess. But I’m sure he’s still just some kid, trying to find love on this lonely planet, just like any one else, right?”

Julian beams at Romero. “Yeah. Definitely.”

This story is sort of a fun venture (I'll make sure to work on my other ones also . ). It's less realistic but I hope to still keep it relation-centered. And since I already have a plot in mind I guess I have no choice but to write it out to the end. :) Please read and review, I oh so enjoy them so :)