World Turned Upside Down

by Elyse Springer

  “What I said to you after the first sunrise was true,” Simon said slowly. “You turned my entire world upside down in just a few months. But I didn’t explain what that meant. The thing is, back in April I was attracted to a man who doesn’t exist. He looked like you, but the Asher I lusted after was a fantasy. I looked at you and saw someone I wanted to have sex with but who was too handsome, too strong and brilliant to ever even notice me.”

  Asher huffed out a laugh but didn’t speak.

  Simon licked his lips, wincing as the cold air hit them. “Miranda and Oli convinced me that you’d be down to fuck if I just asked. I thought, There’s no way. Asher Delaney could have anyone on this station. Why the hell would he waste his time on the kid who washes dishes? You know?”

  “I didn’t want anyone else,” Asher said. The words were barely a whisper, muffled beneath his scarf.

  “I know that now. But back in April, I didn’t know anything about you other than how gorgeous you are. And I was way too nervous to approach you, because I was just a scrawny nobody who couldn’t even finish his college degree, and you were this cool, genius scientist who looked like a Greek god.”

  Now Asher moved. He turned his head slightly, glancing at Simon out of the corner of his eye. “You thought I was cool?”

  Simon managed a thin smile. “I still think you’re cool. And I still think you’re a genius, and that you look like a god. But I didn’t know you then. So Oli and Miranda bet me. They said you’d sleep with me if I just expressed an interest. It wasn’t out of cruelty—they’d seen you looking at me, the way I was looking at you, and they were trying to convince me to take a risk and talk to you.”

  The wind changed direction, cutting through Simon’s jacket like it was nothing. He shivered, pulling his legs up to his body.

  “But none of us thought it would be anything more than a quick fuck, especially not me. I didn’t want to date, and I’d never been interested in a relationship.” Simon was looking directly at Asher as he spoke, which was the only reason he caught the way Asher’s green eyes tightened for a second, as though he were in pain. He quickly continued. “But that changed once I actually met you and started to fall in love with you.”

  The shudder that rippled through Asher’s body had nothing to do with cold, judging by the look on his face. “What?” he breathed.

  Simon wrapped his arms around his chest, his own shivering growing stronger as the cold seeped through his layers. “I fell in love with you. And it scared me because I’ve never loved anyone before. I’ve never wanted to be in a relationship, and suddenly I was. And I wanted to tell you, but I didn’t know how. I panicked. I’ve never felt like this, and then you started talking about being together after the season ended, and I just—I didn’t know what to say.”

  Asher didn’t speak for a long moment.

  “It’s funny,” he finally said slowly, “because the first time you talked to me, I thought, This guy is way too amazing to be interested in someone like me. I’d heard about you from some of people who were here last year.”

  Simon winced. He could only imagine what people might have said—about him, and about him and Oli.

  “But then you talked to me about the auroras, and you didn’t seem at all like—well, you—you know,” Asher stuttered.

  That confirmed it for Simon. “Yeah. Loving you wasn’t in my winterover plans, I can tell ya. But if there’s one thing Antarctica has taught me over the years, it’s how to roll with a new life change. And meeting you definitely changed my life, Asher. For the better.”

  Asher finally looked over at him. He opened his mouth, but whatever he intended to say was shoved aside as his eyes widened. “Jesus, Simon. You’re freezing.”

  That was an understatement, but Simon was too cold to dig up a witty reply.

  “Come on,” Asher said. “Let’s get out of this wind.”

  He helped Simon to his feet—which was to say, he bodily lifted Simon from the ground, because Simon’s legs were too cold to work on their own. Just around the corner was a red pickup truck, which Simon hadn’t seen before. Asher led him toward it, holding Simon tightly the entire way. He helped Simon climb up into the cab, then closed the door gently behind him before rushing around to the driver’s side to start the engine. Simply being out of the wind was enough to help Simon’s shivers lessen, and soon enough the truck was putting out hot air.

  Neither of them spoke while Asher put the truck into gear and carefully maneuvered down the side of the hill. When he turned back on the road that headed into town, he cleared his throat.

  “I don’t want to be an on-ice fling,” Asher said.

  “Good,” Simon replied. “Because I was kinda hoping you’d be my boyfriend.”

  Asher was silent again, this time for long enough that fear rose in Simon’s chest. Had he misread this? Or had Asher changed his mind about what he’d said the last night they’d spent together?

  “Boyfriend,” Asher said finally, stretching the word out. When Simon looked over, Asher’s gaze was fixed on the road in front of them, but there was a smile blossoming on his lips. “Boyfriend. That’s a nice word.”

  The fear vanished, replaced by a warmth far stronger than anything the truck’s heaters were putting out.

  “But,” Asher continued, “we can’t.”

  Simon’s heart dropped. “Asher.”

  Asher’s smile disappeared again, and now he spared a glance to the side to briefly meet Simon’s gaze. “I’m still leaving in a few hours, and you’ll still be here for another month and a half at least.”

  “No I won’t,” Simon said. “I’m, uh. I’mcomingwithyou.”

  The truck jerked to the side, and then Asher gripped the wheel and carefully steered it over to the side of the road, where he put it into park and turned his entire body to face Simon.

  “Say that again, but slower.”

  Simon took a deep breath, then let it out. “I’m coming with you. When Miranda told me that you’d asked to be manifested on the first Winfly flight, I maybe reacted on instinct and quit my job so I could fly out too?”

  “You… quit your job,” Asher said carefully. “Because I was leaving?”

  “Yeah.” Simon bit his lip. “I couldn’t imagine being on the Ice without you anymore. Even six more weeks here seemed impossible, knowing you were getting farther and farther away from me. I knew it might be my last chance to talk to you and explain, so I just—quit.”

  Asher swallowed visibly. “If you quit your job, they don’t let you come back.”

  “Yeah,” Simon said. “But if you weren’t going to be here, then I didn’t want to come back.”

  “Oh.”

  Simon blinked, and then Asher was leaning forward across the cab, cupping Simon’s face in one hand and kissing him. His lips were chapped, still a little cold from being outside. It was the most perfect kiss Simon had ever had.

  “Oh,” he echoed, when Asher pulled back.

  Asher’s eyes crinkled, but there was still a trace of something in them that Simon couldn’t quite put a name to. “You’re coming with me?”

  “Yeah,” Simon whispered, and leaned forward to kiss Asher back. “Anywhere you want to go, I’ll be by your side. For as long as you’ll have me.”

  “Okay,” Asher said against his lips. “Let’s go.”

  Mainbody

  SIMON CLOSED his eyes and took a deep breath, held it, then let it out.

  The world smelled like grass and dirt, like moisture in the air. After spending more than four months in a land where nothing grew, simply lying in a field of grass and inhaling was a luxury that few could ever truly comprehend.

  The sense of smell was the one thing that truly suffered in Antarctica. The cold could touch you like a living thing; eyes were bombarded by 24/7 daylight or adapted to endless nighttime. But smell—that was something that was lost until the plane from McMurdo touched down in Christchurch, New Zealand.

  Christchurch might have been chilly an
d overcast, with rain threatening to fall at any moment, but to Simon it was paradise. The city was home to the US Antarctic Program offices, and was where contractors and scientists alike departed on their way down to the Ice for the season.

  It had been Simon’s tradition for the last two years to visit the Christchurch Botanic Gardens as soon as he dropped his bag off at the hotel. This year, though, he was changing things up a bit.

  He took another deep breath and caught a different scent—soap, a hint of familiar shampoo, deodorant. Simon smiled.

  “You look so content right now,” Asher said, laughter lacing through his words.

  “I am.” Simon blinked his eyes open and glanced over to see Asher staring at him. “What?”

  “Just like watching you.”

  It was early spring in New Zealand, but just looking at Asher—blond hair wild and curling around his ears, eyes sparkling like emeralds, skin somehow glowing despite the paleness of a winter in Antarctica—made Simon feel warm all over, like it was a midsummer day.

  Gentle fingers twined with his own. “What’s making you smile like that?” Asher asked.

  “You.” Simon rolled on his side, pillowing his head on his arm and bringing his other hand up to press his lips to Asher’s fingers. “Just thinking about how nice it is to be here with you right now.”

  Asher inched closer, hooked an ankle around Simon’s calf, and pulled them together. The Botanic Gardens were open to the public, but the weather—poor and cold, to anyone who hadn’t just left the most inhospitable environment on Earth—meant they had the park mostly to themselves.

  Simon closed the gap between them, kissing Asher sweetly while grass brushed against their cheeks.

  Asher huffed another laugh, nose wrinkling. “Tickles,” he murmured against Simon’s lips.

  Simon nipped at his lip, then shoved Asher’s shoulder until he rolled over onto his back and Simon could prop himself up above him. “Problem solved,” he said, and kissed Asher again.

  Even though the gardens were empty, they were still out in the open where anyone could walk by. So Simon contented himself to trade lazy kisses with Asher, sinking down until they were chest to chest and Simon could curl up on top of Asher’s larger body, Asher’s arm wrapped around his hips to hold him in place.

  “Love you,” Simon said minutes or hours later, lips buzzing. The words still sent a thrill through him.

  “Love you too,” Asher replied.

  “So, what next?”

  Asher brushed their lips together, more a comforting gesture than a real kiss. “Well, eventually maybe we can move back to the hotel, where there’s a bed and no damp grass soaking into my shirt.”

  Simon rolled his eyes but laughed. “I meant, what’s next for us, in the future?” He paused, then added, “But near future, yeah, hotel sounds really good.” He might be used to far colder temperatures, but the sky was growing darker by the minute and he really didn’t want to get soaked.

  They separated just long enough to stand up, and then Asher wrapped his arm back around Simon, keeping him close as they wandered out of the garden and down the road to the hotel that the USAP had put them up in.

  “Next…,” Asher began. “Well, I need to check back in with my university in Minnesota. Meet with my boss and discuss some of the initial data I took.”

  Simon hummed in acknowledgment.

  “You could come with me?” Asher asked.

  Simon glanced up at him. “Yeah?”

  Asher’s arm tightened around Simon’s waist, and his fingers brushed the strip of skin where Simon’s shirt had ridden up. “Yeah. I mean, if you wanted to.”

  “Anywhere you want to go,” Simon said, repeating his promise from the Ice.

  “It’s a good school,” Asher continued. He looked down at Simon. “I just mean—you’re taking those online classes, and if you were looking to keep studying back in the States, it might be a good place to check out.”

  Simon melted against his side, tilting his head against Asher’s shoulder. It made walking a little difficult, but he didn’t care, just wanted to be as close to Asher as he could get. “Couldn’t hurt to check out.”

  The fantasy of meeting Asher for lunch on campus, studying with him in an actual coffee shop instead of meeting at the coffee hut, spun out inside his mind. It was a far cry from the fantasies that Simon originally had featuring Asher, but those had never made him feel as happy as he did right now.

  “And after that,” Asher continued, “well… we could come back, if you wanted. Next winter.”

  “To New Zealand?”

  Asher tickled his hip, making Simon squirm against him. “To Antarctica.”

  The memory of Oli’s offer floated to the surface of Simon’s mind. The logistics department was an entirely different hiring company than the kitchen. He could go back, if he wanted to. If Asher wanted to. He could go back with Asher, which was the most important part.

  “Yeah?” he asked.

  Asher pressed a kiss to the top of his head. “Yeah.”

  The last season in Antarctica had completely turned Simon’s world upside down. It was a place he’d fallen in love with, and the place where they’d fallen in love with each other. And now the idea of returning next winter with Asher at his side made Antarctica seem completely new all over again.

  They stopped just outside their hotel, Simon turned, and went up on his toes so he could kiss Asher again. “Okay. Let’s do that.”

  Glossary of Antarctic Slang

  Beakers: Slang for scientists/researchers.

  Conditions: Weather statuses to easily explain danger and visibility. Condition 3 is considered good/fair weather. Condition 2 involves dangerous weather with lessening visibility and high winds. Condition 1 is severe weather with <100 feet of visibility, extreme cold, and/or incredibly high winds.

  Freshies: Fresh fruits, vegetables, and other perishables that can’t be stored frozen on base.

  Mainbody: The summer season. At McMurdo this is usually October through March.

  NSF: The National Science Foundation, a government branch that is responsible for the United States Antarctic Program (USAP)

  The Ice: Slang for Antarctica.

  Toasty: A condition that many winterovers get due to isolation and prolonged lack of sunlight. Symptoms include spacing out, memory blanks, mood swings, etc.

  Winfly: The period between winter and summer (Mainbody), usually August to early October, when initial personnel arrive to help prepare the station for the arrival of the main population.

  Winterover: (noun) A person who spends the winter in Antarctica; (verb) the act of spending a winter season in Antarctica.

  ELYSE SPRINGER is an author and world-traveler, whose unique life experiences have helped to shape the stories that she wants to tell. She writes romances with LGBTQIA+ characters and relationships and believes that every person deserves a Happily Ever After. When she’s not staring futilely at her computer screen, Elyse spends her time adding stamps to her passport, catching up on her terrifying TBR list, and learning to be a better adult.

  You can find Elyse online at:

  Website: elspringer.com

  Twitter: www.twitter.com/ElyseSpringer

  Facebook: www.facebook.com/elysespringerwrites

  By Elyse Springer

  World Turned Upside Down

  Published by DREAMSPINNER PRESS

  www.dreamspinnerpress.com

  Published by

  DREAMSPINNER PRESS

  5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886 USA

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  World Turned Upside Down

  © 2019 Elyse Springer

  Cover Art

  © 2019
Brooke Albrecht

  http://brookealbrechtstudio.com

  Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.

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  Digital ISBN: 978-1-64405-427-7

  Digital eBook published August 2019

  v. 1.0

  Printed in the United States of America