m/m The Wall (chapter 42, added 12/26).

[Maxum]

This one's a little different than the others. I'll dedicate it to anyone who has ever fallen in love.

The Wall, Chapter 18 “Glass Houses”

The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam houses the largest collection of paintings by Vincent Van Gogh in the world. It originally opened in 1973 and was expanded in 1999 with the addition of the Kurokawa Exhibition Wing. In 2015, the Heeswijk Entrance Hall, a soaring all glass pavilion was added, complete with glass walls, a glass roof, and a large central glass staircase. During the daytime, the pavilion is flooded with sunlight, and at night, the glass building serves as a beacon, illuminating Museum Square and guiding visitors to the entrance.

On the night of KPNG Gala, a special exhibit had been added to the entrance. Instead of the broad gravel walkway and lawns leading up to the building, a series of curved leucite walls were constructed, providing a transparent maze through which visitors were guided from the lawn to the entry. Embedded LED sources produced a moving array of giant images of Van Gogh’s compendium of paintings, projected on the translucent walls. Intermixed with the kaleidoscope of Impressionistic images were blocks of color or empty space where the walls were transparent again. The effect was that of traveling on a train through a spiraling tunnel of chaos and beauty, filled with dark blue starry skies, giant sunflowers and irises, and enormous self-portraits. Every few minutes the moving polyptych of artwork was interrupted by a moving live cast of the patrons who where standing in line to enter the building. Tiny cameras imbedded within the leucite panels captured the wondering expressions of the onlooking spectators and circulated them over the translucent walls.

The installation was truly one of the most amazing pieces of art I had ever experienced. It showcased the beauty of the paintings of Vincent Van Gogh, and it offered an insight into the state of his mind that was plagued throughout his life with bouts of insanity. The interleaved live shots of the crowd in the line provided relief from the chaos and a sense of communal enjoyment. It was completely hypnotic. 

 After registering my arrival and receiving a glass of champagne, I entered the leucite maze to take in the artwork. Because the majority of guests had arrived near the start of the event, the installation was relatively crowded and slow paced as guests marveled and mingled on their way to the museum’s entry hall. The entire procession took a good 20 minutes, during which time the sequence of paintings and crowd shots repeatedly played.

I mingled politely but kept an eye on the translucent murals, waiting to spot my Pup in the line. After 20 long minutes of searching, I reached the entry pavilion. Still no sign of Pup. I entered and pulled out my mobile device. I texted: “Hey Pup! How’s Amsterdam? You must be at the Gala by now. I hope you’re enjoying yourself.”

I sipped another glass of champagne and mingled while I waited to hear back from Pup. A few minutes passed, then 30 and then an hour. He didn’t text back, and he didn’t show up. I was getting more than a little worried. So, I broke the cardinal rule of seduction. I pulled out my phone and texted again, this time just, “???”

My phone buzzed back almost instantly, with a call instead of a message. I answered, “Hello?”

“Seriously? Two in a row? I’m working, you know. You must be bored in New York without me.” 

“Of course I am. Well, not really bored. I just miss you a bit. Generally, I find you… amusing.” 

Then he responded, “Well, I’m not so amusing right now. I’ve been having a fuck of a day. Those bastards at KPNG tried to hang one of their accounting mistakes on our office and me; so I spent the day pulling together documentation to show that the mistake was theirs, not ours. It’s all okay now, but I feel like I’ve been battling the barbarians at the gate for the last 10 hours, and now I’ve got to go to this ridiculous gala. I’d rather be hitting the Cellar with you.”

“Bummer, Pup. I’m sorry about the labors of your day, but don’t discount the gala. I’ve been to these events in the past. KPNG really pulls out the stops for their clients. It’s going to be amazing. Just enjoy it. I’m sure you’ll be more than pleasantly surprised in the end. I’ll see you soon, and you can tell me all about it then.”

“I’m sure you are right. I’m just registering now. There’s some big glass maze thing that looks pretty cool.” Then he added, “Hey, Big Dog?”

“What is it, Pup.”

“I’m walking into this maze thing now, and it’s fucking amazing. Oh my god. I wish you could see this.”

“See you soon, Pup.” I ended the call. 

I rushed to the entrance to retrace my tracks through the maze. Meeting Pup there in the midst of the art and the lights would be perfect. However, my jog through the entry pavilion caught the attention of the security team. A man shouted, “Stop!” and an alarm started ringing. Apparently, having suffered significant losses from art heists in 1991 and 2002, the Van Gogh security team did not fool around. 

I stopped in my tracks and kept my hands in plain sight.  The sirens continued, and lights started flashing. The steel security gates at the entry and exits had closed, and someone shouted that a painting was missing.

Meanwhile, outside the building in the maze installation, the kaleidoscope of images continued, and the patrons in line thought the additional flashing lights and alarms were just part of the show. One aficionado of modern artwork commented that he had been waiting for this part to happen. “Of course, if you know anything about Ousler’s other works, the surprise is totally predictable. Still… It is fabulous!”

 Back inside, I was rushed by security guards who grabbed my forearms and wrists and tried to handcuff me. I offered no resistance, but my wrists were too large and their handcuffs too small; so I just stood there. 

The chief security officer approached. “I am Officer Verhoeven.” He looked at my name tag, “and you are… Max Rayburn?”

“Yes. I am Max Rayburn, and I am a guest of KPNG. What the hell is going on here?  Tell your men to let go my arms.”

He nodded to the security guards, and they took a step back.

“A theft has been reported in the museum. Why were you running toward the exit?”

“I was rushing to the maze to meet a colleague who is arriving.”

“And your colleague’s name is…?”

“His name is Thomas Baker, but he doesn’t know I am here.”

Verhoeven looked perplexed by my answer and radioed to security at the registration desk, and they verified that Tom/Pup had arrived within the past couple of minutes.

“So, I’m having trouble following the logic of your explanation. If your colleague doesn’t know you are here, then why were you running to meet him?”

“Well it’s a long story, the essence of which is that I’ve come to Amsterdam as a surprise to my friend, to profess my true feelings for him and make him fall in love with me.”

“Mr. Rayburn, you are a romantic like me, but I fear you have watched too many movies. Still, I appreciate your yearning. When I, myself, proposed to my wife, I used that great line from the American film ‘When Harry Met Sally.’”

I responded, “I had planned to use those very words myself.” Then I recited: “When you realize that you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.”

Verhoeven nodded.

Then the flashing lights stopped, and the alarm bells stopped ringing. Verhoeven held his phone to his ear.

“Ja, ja. Zeker? Okay. Ja.”

Then he said to me, “We owe you an apology, Mr. Rayburn. The theft was a false alarm. The missing painting was removed for restoration and is in safe place.”

Then he added, “I’m terribly sorry for the accusation and the inconvenience. I have a plan that I think will make it up to you.” He radioed to the registration desk again and asked that they clear the maze of all patrons except for Mr. Baker. Then he escorted me back to museum end of the maze and offered, “The stage is for you, Mr. Rayburn. Your big movie moment. Make it count.”

Then he opened the door and I entered the maze. Without the other patrons sharing the experience, the effect was quite different. The kaleidoscope of giant, blue-hued starry skies, Irises and bright sunflowers on the translucent walls made me feel small and alone. The aloneness was accentuated by the interleaved live casts, now just empty space in the absence of others. Then an image of Pup walking toward me was projected over the walls and the ceiling, and my heart ached with a deep sense of longing. The image of me that reached Pup the same way showed me running to him through the maze. Then more Starry Nights and some disturbing self-portraits, then an image of Pup looking confused but jogging toward me.

I heard Pup's footsteps approaching as I rounded a corner and slowed my pace to a walk. At the far end of a straight portion of the maze stood my Pup, surrounded by projections of Van Gogh’s sunflowers. We walked toward each until we met beneath the blue Starry Night Over the Rhone just as it transitioned to the more famous starry, Starry Night.

“Max, what are you doing here? I thought you were in New York.”

Then I recited my line, the whole reason I had come all this way. “I came, Pup, to tell you that I love you. It just couldn't wait. When you realize that you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.” 

He smiled a sly smile and cocked his head to the left. “Hey, you stole that from When Harry Met Sally.”

“Guilty.”

Then he cocked is head to the right and teased me, “Couldn’t you come up with some words of your own?”

I replied, “Perhaps, but no words were ever more true. Besides, after Harry used them on Sally in the movie, they kiss, and I want to kiss you, Pup. I want to kiss you right now like I’ve never wanted anything more in my life.”

“But what if I don’t kiss you back?”

As I was formulating a clever response, Pup leaned in and kissed me instead. The clear sky above transformed into the blue-hued Starry Night and then to an oversized live cast of our embrace. It was perfect.

[Sjdmuscle]

Beautiful! That was worth the wait! Now bring on the sex!

[Maxum]

2 minutes ago, Sjdmuscle said:

Beautiful! That was worth the wait! Now bring on the sex!

I don't think I could stop them now if I tried.

[arpeejay]

1 hour ago, Maxum said:

I don't think I could stop them now if I tried.

Have them hoof on over to the Rijksmuseum and have them do it in front of The Night Watch! The members of the watch will look like Munch-Kins when Max and Pup are done!

[Jtchef2]

That was so romantic, and beautiful to read! Thank you for sharing this with your friends on here!

[Mdlftr]

Awww! Sweet moment!

And when do they get to - 

"I'll have what HE'S having!" 

[Maxum]

3 hours ago, Mdlftr said:

And when do they get to -  "I'll have what HE'S having!" 

When you read the next chapter, I hope we'll all have what they're having. I'm having to take breaks from the writing to jerk myself off.  I hope it won't cause too much of a delay...

[Sjdmuscle]

6 hours ago, Maxum said:

When you read the next chapter, I hope we'll all have what they're having. I'm having to take breaks from the writing to jerk myself off.  I hope it won't cause too much of a delay...

Next chapter cumming soon!

[hoga]

Can't wait!

 

[IronBull]

Wow, the Van Gogh Museum is my favorite museum in the world.  You captured and used it perfectly for the setting in this chapter which captures  and magnifies the magic of new found love.  I have to admit that this is the first chapter of the story that I've read, but I'm hooked.  Now to start reading from the beginning...