Everything was white. Absolutely everything.

Andreas sighed. His head was resting against the cool window glass and he was looking outside at the landscape. Or at least that was what he had been doing until the plane went higher up into the skies, where everything was covered in white.

He was already bored. He was not much of a reader, so he didn’t have a book with him, and though he had brought his mp3 player, the music didn’t give him something to do, not really.

A three hour flight with nothing to do would be worth it though, in the end. Because he was going to Svalbard, more specifically Spitsbergen, to stay with his stepmother’s brother who was living in the biggest settlement there, Longyearbyen.

He was getting away from Oslo, from the unhealthy environment he’d lived in there. And he was going to stay with a man he’d had a crush on since his earliest teenage years. He hadn’t met Christian often – but when the man had been to visit his sister, Andreas had stayed around him as much as possible, secretly lusting after him.

That was years ago though, and he’d hidden his interest for Christian from everyone, especially from the man himself. But now he was twenty-one, newly out of rehab and trying to make his life better. First point was getting away from the drug scene in Oslo. Second was to try and get the man he’d always had quite a thing for. And the fact that Christian was gay and single had only furthered his resolve.

After changing songs on his mp3 he leaned back in the seat and closed his eyes, thinking back to a week ago, when he’d just gotten out of rehab. Anna, his stepmother had been the one to pick him up.

“You will stay at our place for a few days, right?” Anna asked, glancing over at him before turning her eyes on the road again.

“Yeah, sure.” Andreas stared out at the passing traffic. He was tired, exhausted and just wanted to fall asleep in a nice bed. Rehab had been hell and he’d lost several pounds in the time he’d been there.

“I’m going to make a real, nice home cooked meal tonight,” Anna spoke softly. “You need to gain those pounds you’ve lost. Both from the drugs and detox.”

Looking out at the city for a moment, Andreas bit his lip. During rehab he’d come to the conclusion that he needed to get away from this city, from the environment he’d been a part of, which had gotten him hooked on drugs in the first place – that he needed to get away from the temptation that drugs was to him now.

“Hey, Anna,” he started slowly, fumbling with a small hole in his jeans. “Your brother… Does he still live on Svalbard?”

She nodded. “Yes.”

“Does he live with someone?”

“He lives by himself,” Anna replied. “Like he always has. Well, he does have his dogs though.”

He continued fumbling with the hole. “Do you think that perhaps he’ll let me stay with him for a while?”

Anna glanced over at him. “You want to go stay with Christian?”

Andreas nodded. “Yeah.”

“Why?” She questioned. “He lives in Svalbard. Longyearbyen is not like Oslo. It’s only a little above 2000 inhabitants up there. And it’s cold. Freezing, to be more exact.”

Andreas ran a hand over his face, rubbing his eyelids. “Maybe I don’t want it to be like Oslo. I need to get away from here, Anna. If I don’t the drugs will just drag me down into the dump again. I can’t allow that to happen. I need to change my life, and the first step is to get away from here. Maybe I could get a job up there as well, so I’d have something to do.”

Anna gave him a sympathetic look. “I understand. I’ll call Christian and talk to him when we get home, okay?”

Nodding, Andreas went back to staring out the window. Not only did he want to get away from this city, but he also wanted to go be with Christian himself. He’d always known the man was gay, and if Christian still was single… Then Andreas was going to try getting the man he’d always longed for, that was for sure.

No more fucking around with various guys, both acquaintances and strangers. No more trying to find love in all the wrong places, with all the wrong people. He wanted the man he’d never been able to forget, no matter how long it’d been since he last saw him, no matter how drugged he’d been. And it didn’t matter that Christian was Anna’s brother. They weren’t related, not by blood, and blood-relation was all that mattered.

He wanted Christian just as much, if not even more, than getting away from Oslo and all the bad shit that had happened to him there.