ALL THE COLOURS
Darego woke to bright light streaming in from the window. The curtains were parted, and the glass pane was shifted to the left, leaving the room open to sunlight and the intruding gaze of the neighbors. The cool Enugu wind blew in from the open window, rattling the glass of the window pane in its holding. He hated waking up like this.
He groaned and rubbed his eyes before he groggily roused himself from the bed, put on his glasses and pulled on a pair of boxer shorts he picked up from his side of the bed. He shuffled his feet against the marbled floor to the toilet where he relieved his bladder and brushed his teeth.
His morning ritual partly done, he started downstairs, pulling the offending window blinds shut on his way out of the room. When he got to the kitchen, he made two cups of Lipton tea, adding sugar and milk to only one cup, before carrying it to the spare room beside the sitting room. The thought that he had become familiar to the house in ways he hadn’t imagined the first time he visited struck him and he smiled.
He opened the door to find the most handsome man on earth sitting on a stool, faced away from him. His salt-and-pepper hair was shaved in a ‘punk’ style, his upper body was bare, leaving his muscles to be admired, and there was only a pair of skimpy briefs clad over his waist.
Seeing Henry like this always made Darego’s throat go dry and his loins grow heavy.
“Don’t just stand there. Come and kiss me already,” Henry said, when he turned to cast him a longing look.
Darego crossed the room in three steps, handed the cup of black tea to him and kissed him fully on the lips. He could never tire of kissing Henry. When they met, he was practically a novice in that department, but Henry had showed him things he could only have imagined. Henry’s tongue would move expertly in his mouth, his teeth grazing his lips, and when they were done, his lips would tingle as he gasped for breath.
Henry smiled at him, and he reflexively smiled back. He couldn’t help it, seeing Henry happy made him giggly, tipsy. He gazed into his lover’s face and saw beyond the crease of the frown lines on his forehead and the graying in his hair. He saw sunlight.
“Good morning, love,” Darego croaked out, his voice thick with emotion. “You left the window open again. What do I have to do to get it through your thick head that I don’t like the windows open.” He sipped from his cup, feeling the hot liquid wake his insides.
“Bah!” Henry said, turning back to the painting he was working on. “I’ve told you to stop worrying about the neighbors. Don’t be a kid that way. They can’t see a fucking thing and, if they do, then they asked for it. Moreover, you know how much –”
“You love the sunlight,” Darego finished for him.
“And how it highlights your body,” Henry added with a smile. “Don’t forget that bit.”
Darego rolled his eyes before he focused on the painting again. “What kind of painting is that? It’s got a lot of colors in there.”
Henry was a painter, a very good one. While other artists might struggle with getting enough money for their work, Henry only had to worry about getting enough work to satisfy his clients. The painting he was working on was what seemed like a human face, spotted with more colors than the rainbow. Paint had found its way to the floor, on his bare hairy chest and on his blue underwear. Darego swallowed with longing when his eyes rested on the underwear.
“That, my love, is life,” Henry said, drawing his focus back to the painting. “I’m using a technique called Pointillism, but I did more blending than is traditionally required. But that’s essential to the message I’m trying to pass across.”
There was a silence while Darego looked at him, his left eyebrow cocked. Henry usually did this. He would talk about stuff like this and then he’d pause, waiting to be urged on, as though to reassure himself that the listener was paying attention.
Darego turned his mouth into a moue of exasperation. “And that is?”
Henry beamed. “That life is full of colors!”
He said that in a way that seemed too much like ‘Ta-da!’ to Darego, who turned to face the painting again, looking at it more closely and pushing the glasses that sat on his nose up to fit into the crook of his nose. The painting was really beautiful – everything Henry made was wonderful. Great attention was paid to little details as Darego saw flicks of hair poking through the nose on the painting. But other than the pure beauty of the work, he didn’t see any inspirational message behind the art.
“I give up,” he finally said. “What’s that supposed to mean? I’m an Applied Chemistry student, not Van Gogh aficionado.”
Henry shook his head from side to side. “There are several things to life. All can be represented in different colors. Pink for when we are younger, blue for when we become teenagers, like you,” he added with a twinkle in his eyes.
“Oh no, you didn’t,” Darego protested with a laugh.
“Green for us as adults,” Henry continued, “and red for when we are aged and frail –”
“Like you,” Darego cut in, going for his pound of flesh.
Henry shook with his laughter, before he slapped Darego’s derriere and pulled him closer and onto his laps.
“The colors could also represent our moods,” he carried on. “Red for anger, blue for sadness, black for sorrow, yellow for happiness and purple for sexual arousal –”
“I feel so purple right now,” Darego purred.
Henry kissed the top of his left shoulder. “It could also represent people. Red for people that need anger management classes like your grandpa, yellow for people that bring happiness like you, black for people that are filled with hate –”
“Like your sister, Helen,” Darego interrupted again. “I think she has a death wish for me.”
Henry sighed. “Helen doesn’t hate you. Her resentment has more to do with the fact that she hasn’t come to terms with my sexuality than that you are slightly younger than I am.”
“Not slightly, hon. You are forty-three, I’m twenty-three. That’s nearly half your age, even though you don’t look it.” Darego turned in his embrace and kissed him again.
“Anyway, back to the painting,” Henry said when the kiss ended. “It’s called ‘All The Colors’, and it is meant to show that there is great variety in everything. But that in time, everything works together. All those colors come together to make something so profound and beautiful that you tend to overlook their unsightly nature when they are alone. The world is a beautiful place. But it isn’t just the good stuff that makes it beautiful. Sad, angry and hateful people are all part of that beauty.”
“Let me get this straight,” Darego said with an uncomprehending crease in his brow. “You are saying that your sister and my grandpa are all part of the beautiful scheme of things? Even though half the time I see them, I want to cry?”
“Yeah. I dare say that we need them, as much as we need heartwarming souls like your mother and my brother, too. For instance, the oppressive Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act… It helps me appreciate what I have with you. You see, it is the dark that makes us appreciate the light. Sick, but true.”
Darego smiled. “I love it when you talk like Gandhi.”
“I love it when you grin like that,” Henry said and proceeded to crush their lips together.
Written by Uziel
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38 Comments
JArch
October 22, 05:23Uziel… I am now handing over my mantle as the honourable minister of Daddy Affairs.
This is really beautiful all over… You could feel the colours emanating with each spoken words and the flow/tension in this story was superb… 10/10.
Pink Panther
October 22, 05:33I swear. It was such a ‘colourful’ story, one which I fell instantly in love with at first read. And those two lovers…their relationship is just enviable.
papasmurf
October 22, 05:36Aaaaawwww!!!! Please please please!!!! Tell me there’s a follow up?!
I love this piece. It rings with such truth that people are blind to. Though I think I’ve met so many “gray” coloured people…they’re the sour faced moody people.
Oh! I’d love some white too. It represent those “aha!” Or peaceful moments characterized by such clarity.
Thanks for the B-E-A-utiful piece dear.
Andrevn
October 22, 06:54I so love this.
Such clarity of words.
Come take a kiss for this pengician. You know where to find me.
john
October 22, 07:08sugar daddy n his olosho story. #Runs out to check the tap
Temi Cole
October 22, 07:38Sheer beauty! Wow… totally blown away by the magic of how you crafted the story and the beauty of your narrative!
*sniff* now I want a boyfriend!
Dennis Macaulay
October 22, 07:54black for people that are filled with hate –”
“Like your sister, Helen,” Darego interrupted again. “I think she has a death wish for me.”
This stood out for me!
Itz_Mztur JOJOARMANI
October 22, 08:13this kinda love and relationships swag in Enugu?
Amazing writeup! Brilliant!
Jamie
October 22, 08:38Beautiful…
Chizzie
October 22, 08:49Red is my favourite colour, so I’m actually pissed that you likened it to anger. Plus I certainly do not need anger management classes! Why do people associate red with negative things like danger and anger and satanic cult regalia when it symbolizes passion and blood, with blood being life.
This is reddism! I am livid! * smashes plates against wall. rips bedsheets to shreds, slams phone against mirror*
Pink Panther
October 22, 09:30Hahahahahahahahahaa!!! Ok, chizzie, this spark of humour from you took me by surprise.
Vulcan
October 22, 09:31Easy, Red. You’d break a Nail ^_^
Tobby
October 22, 14:49Haha
Delle
October 22, 09:21I actually loved the story but kind of disagree with a few of the colour analogies. I feel red should be likened to something better like ‘sexy’ or ‘sensual’ and not anger. Who does that?!
Purple cannot be that…puhleez! (Except royalty is involved of course)
That aside, please keep up with the story o. There has to be a follow-up. I love it when there’s a daddy and a twink involved.
*mental image of BDSM playing on*
Pink Panther
October 22, 09:32Red is passion. Red is heat.
Anger. Desire. These are emotions associated with heat and passion.
So Red is anger. And Red is desire.
Sexiness and sensuality are too subtle and coy to be represented by red.
PETROVICH
October 22, 11:15This color Calculation is so on point…..I would like to know the formulas you used in solving this equation….
Delle
October 22, 16:39Do u see?! Can u see just how your comment agrees with mine? Although, in a different kinda way. Red is heat. Red is passion. Red is Desire. Oh! Red sparks SENSUALITY! Hardcore, lick honey off my body SENSUALITY! That’s what I’m saying. Not subtle sexy…but RAUNCHY SEXY! Purple can’t exhibit that.
Ouch! *sucking on index finger*
kacee
October 22, 15:52BDSM, Delle you are a naughty naughty boy and i’m going to spank ur sweet ass when next i see u… hehehehehe *tongue out*
Delle
October 22, 16:45U ain’t gon’ touch nor spank my derriere honey. Just join the queue…then I’d see about that.
No rush sweet!
Pink Panther
October 22, 17:05Kacee, you’re a girl!
A girl!
Stop using the words ‘spank’ and ‘ass’ on a gay guy in one sentence biko. It’s confusing. Aish! *swallowing a migraine pill with some water*
Sinnex
October 22, 09:21Nice.
Vulcan
October 22, 09:34“Yeah. I dare say that we need them, as much as we need heartwarming souls like your mother and my brother, too. For instance, the oppressive Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act… It helps me appreciate what I have with you. You see, it is the dark that makes us appreciate the light. Sick, but true.”
Hear! Hear!! 🙂
Tiercel de Claron.
October 22, 10:35You beat me to it,was about highlighting that part.
McGray
October 22, 10:5843 to 23? Mbanu! I can’t. M neither Bianca/Ojukwu nor am i Celine Dion/Rene
Jon Snow
October 22, 11:25@McGray…hush hon don’t let the twink lovers hear you.
kacee
October 22, 16:11McGray hahahahahahaha u guys won’t kill me.. I’ll like to do Ellen DeGeneres or Jane Lynch (yeah yeah i know in my dreams) Omg *fans self*
PETROVICH
October 22, 11:18Lovely Piece, love the whole color combination and meanings.
I need me some Blue guys
Duke
October 22, 13:38Awww nice.
iamcoy
October 22, 14:06U for Uziel… Nice gift you got. Kudos
Tobby
October 22, 14:50I love this
kacee
October 22, 16:00Wow, (I can’t even close my mouth) Darego and Henry OMG I know two guys….. let me stop here….. Nice one Uziel.
Kester
October 22, 16:21No one mentioned my favorite color GREEN!!!! GREEN!!!!!!! GREEN!!!!!!!! green for envy, malice, fear, rotten teeth and vomit!
very heart warming optimistic piece! Can love like this be found in enugu?
*packing my bags and headed for AKTC *
Dickson Clement
October 22, 17:42Nice piece and to imagine it was set in Enugu! I have a little itch when the age issue came up and the sudden Cinderella vibe melted away. I have always believed in age bracket.
Oluwadamilare Okoro
October 22, 20:29WOW!!!!!!!
Reed
October 22, 21:17Beautiful piece, blew me away.
michael
October 23, 00:28Finally, a story from the main man.
well done jare.
Marc Francis of Chelsea
October 23, 01:45Such pretty prose.
*peaches*
October 24, 09:40So cute a prose… Henry remind’s me of my nudist neigbour whom i climb the tank stand to spy through his window… But am only watching out for theives, no evil intentions