This Guy is In-Love with You, Pare

I was sitting in a 24 – hour coffee shop at 4:16 in the morning thinking stupid things when two men in black (one wearing a cap) caught my attention. They were sipping one cup of coffee one after the other alternately. They were facing in the same direction and both were almost together in sucking cigars while conversing in soft voices as if talking in secret. They didn’t even care the people around them. They were actually enjoying the company of one another sharing each other’s happiness. Two men making their own cosmos at the midst of a chaotic world. What else do they have in common? What else do they have shared? Can they have the same secret? Could it be possible that two men share one common secret?

A flashback from the not so distant past emerged from nowhere. Here in this same place, same time, I recalled a narrative account from someone close to me who shared one common secret with his fellow. He called himself Sander; his fellow’s Piston.

They started as friends. They call each other “best”, a shortened word for “bestfriend”.
They were both intelligent, responsible and most of all hunks. They compete at every aspect, trying to outdo one from the other. Since grade school, they were labeled to be close rivals. In grade one Sander got first place over the whole class while Piston ranked second. But in the second grade Piston took the lead. The pattern continues on the succeeding years. Though, there is no problem for both of them. When high school came, they don’t just compete with scholastic records but also with who to be their girlfriends should be. At the same time they both count how many girls cried for the love of them in a year, a month, a week, or maybe a day? Whoever got the highest point in that aspect, it brings no big deal for them. Rather competition brings them closer together. In other words, there is no problem for them at all. Not until their senior year came.

It was their prom night. He and his bestfriend enjoyed so much that triggered them for a drink. Both were managing themselves better. But the night was long and mysterious. After the prom, they decided to go home together. Although they were walking in a zigzag motion due to alcohol in take, they still managed to move on because they have each other supporting one not to let the other stumble. For no reason at all, they stopped on a parked jeepney.

It was one starry night and both of them were stargazing. Without hesitation Piston told Sander “Best, can I kiss you?” Sander was surprised but he did not refuse. And the next thing that happened was part of the common secret the two have.

From then on, they made a homosexual relationship. After all Sander is shortened name for Alexander and Piston is a nickname for Hephaeston.