Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Intangible Hug ❯ One-Shot

Intangible Hug

 

A naïve teenager once liked his friend and eventually told his friend. The friend had figured it out before the naïve teenager told him. The friend told the naïve teenager to stop because the friend already had someone else in mind. The naïve teenager, being the naïve teenager that he is, asked for a hug, just one hug. If that hug were given, then the naïve teenager would stop. The friend thought about it for a while. Shortly after that, the friend went to Europe because the friend's parents had a meeting to go to. During the time apart, the friend sent emails to the naïve teenager with all of the emails ending with an “intangible hug”. While the naïve teenager was overjoyed to receive the emails, he looked at the “intangible hugs” with longing. However, before their relationship was resolved, a complex thing occurred and the two became bitter enemies. Years went by and each excelled in their profession fields. As Fate would have it, their profession occasionally obligated for the fields to brush one another. Eventually, the still somewhat naïve man tried to make amends. He had yet to receive a reply, but that would all come to pass as all things do.

 

“Blasted cold,” Mike muttered as he rubbed his numb fingers. “Typical of the school to arrange for the reunion to be held on the Yule.” Slowly made his way up the stairs, he entered the spacious banquet hall Harry Ainlay School had rented for the 2008 graduates. Handing his overcoat to the nearby waiter, his eyes scanned the brightly lit hall, searching. Already, people were mingling about, catching up with friends, reminiscing those long days ago. He wandered to the broad paned glass and stared out at the skylights. The plaza lent a magnificent view, neon signs flashed in the dim sky, the constant moving taillights of cars making their arduous journey home. With a start he stiffened. In the reflection of the glass, he could see the faint outline of Brian. He stared suspiciously at the white cards that he was handing out. No, wasn't his business card; it's was much too extravagant and it was too large for it to be considered a reasonable guess.

Making his way to the bar, he angled himself to see Brian more clearly. However Brian's back was towards him and he was unable to see more of what Brian did. Sipping his 1889 Bordeaux's red wine, he pondered of the sanity of approaching Brian. It seemed Fate was enjoying her day, as Mike watched Brian turn around, spot him and somewhat reluctantly made his way through the crowd to where Mike was situated. Mike looked upon the dark haired man and wondered as he often did, has he finally met his match?

“Evening.” Brian flatly stated

“Um evening.” Mike stammered, “So…how are you?”

“Life's been working out for me so far. Nice job, car. Going to get married soon.” Mike raised his eyebrows but said nothing. Brian continued, “Just now, I was handing out wedding invitations. Right, I have yours something in here.” At this Brian fumbled through his small bag of cards. “Ted, Bill, Bob, Nick…Mike. Here we are.” Brian pulled a white rectangular card with Mike's name on it from the bag. Mike accepted the card and looked at it, pondering. Mike glanced at Brian after fingering with the invitation. After a while, Mike realized that it was stupid; Brian rarely betrayed any emotion on his face. Thankfully, it didn't take too long for Brian to give his short, but curt leave. As he turned away, Mike hurriedly called out.

“I'll check my schedule.” There was no response. Mike flattened at that. After a thought, Mike hesitantly ventured after Brian, “Hey, Brian did you um want to perhaps get a cup of coffee or something?” He hesitantly added, after Mike's impervious stare. “Just to catch up and talk. Nothing more.”

A pause, then a barely inaudible, “Fine.”

Startled, Mike looked up, in credulously, “Really? I mean, alright sure, will tomorrow afternoon work for you?”

“Mmhmm.”

“Uh…” A bit put off by Brian's lack of interest, Mike began doubting at the wisdom of even asking but continued forth. “Alright, how about at the Cheesecake Café down 40th street at 3 pm?”

“Okay.” Brian answered, not even looking at him but at someone, indescribable to Mike, in the crowds. With that he moved into the crowds. Mike sighed, his day now suddenly turned from uneventful to mind-boggling. He almost regretted approaching him, but now it was too late to retreat.

After lounging about the plaza and having useless chitchat with a few forgotten acquaintances, he determined that it was pointless in staying any longer, his eyes wandered the scene, always searching for that certain head and his mind buzzed with confusion, even thought he had hardly taken a sip of wine.

Making his way down to the parking lot, he slid into his Mazda RX7. It started off at a soft purr and wheeled smoothly onto the street.

 

Closing the back door of his house shut, Mike sighed as he went to his bedroom. There he did all the rituals before bedtime and was soon in his queen-sized bed. But sleep would not come to him his mind was filled with so many memories of the past and the moments before. Brian inviting him to the wedding…what did it mean? Was their feud over or did he just want to…Mike shifted in his bed, snuggling closer to his pillow.

 

Gentle mumbling erupted in the classroom as Mr. Wong finished teaching the math lesson. After assigning the designated pages, Mr. Wong went back to his desk to finish marking some leftover tests. The students in his class exploded into action, moving chairs and desks, starting conversations and comparing answers. Mike glanced at Brian. He was so into his work that he didn't notice the commotion around him. Sighing, Mike looked down at his half-finished page of math questions. He fingered his pencil and after a couple of tries, Mike put his pencil down and gave up. Mike got up to stretch his legs. But his legs carried him to Brian's desk, making Mike squat in front of Brian. Brian looked at Mike with an inquiring look.

“I'm bored,” Mike began.

“I know,” Brian looked back at the questions on his page, “but you should really get these questions done. They could help you on the test.”

“I can't concentrate.”

“Why is that?”

“'Cause my mind wanders.”
“Is that so?” Brian's reply was deprived of emotion, nor did his face betray his feelings. Mike looked at Brian. Brian's face was so cute when he decides to concentrate on one thing.
“You know why?”

“Why?”

“Because of you.” Brian's pen stopped. He looked up at Mike's face.
“What did you say?”

“I couldn't concentrate on my math because you're here distracting me.” The words left Mike's mouth before he considered them. Brian's face was blank, only his eyes revealed his shock. After the initial shock, Brian smiled. Mike grinned childishly, loving the look of Brian's innocent face. His right index finger reached out slowly towards Brian's face. It brushed Brian's cheek. Time chose that moment to stop. This was the first time that Mike unknowingly dared to do something like this. It was as though he had no control over his own body. Mike stared into Brian's puppy brown eyes. How he longed for this moment to pause forever. But time waits for no one. Mike quickly snatched his hand away and the classroom activities around him resumed. Mike hesitantly got up and went back to his desk, feeling ashamed and wondered if he had gone too far…

 

Mike jerked up, drenched in sweat. The memory came back and in full force; his remorse ate at him. Tossing off his covers, he looked at himself in the mirror. With one night reunion he could see an immediately physical difference already. A dishevelled figure stared back at him tiredly, his eyes now filled with anxiety. Mike looked at his clock, 3:42 AM. He sighed and drank a cup of water from his bedside table and dived under the covers again.

 

Mike soon became conscious of his body and the comforting warmth around him, he breathed deeply. For one night in a long long time, he had a deep and dreamless sleep. A streak of sunbeam prodded his eyes and caused him to burrow further into his bed, trying to escape from the light. He took a quick peek at the clock to see how long before he would meet with -

He yelped and stumbled out of bed it was already 2:50 PM. How he managed to sleep so much, he had no idea. After all these years, everything that he took so much care in locking up, his emotions, the pain, the bitter-sweet memories, had already begun its flood back. His mind frantically panicked as he thought of the impending doom. He ran about the house trying to make himself presentable. Oh, Brian would kill him… this would be the worst possible start, and he was the one who suggested the time! And in the afternoon! His only consolation was that Brian might be late and the Cheesecake Café was only two minutes away. But would he make it in time?

Finally a panting but satisfied with his appearance Mike headed out the door of his house. Soon the plain but still attractive sign of the shop greeted his eyes and he stepped in, only to find Brian already there, sitting by the store window sipping his drink. He groaned. Of course Brian would be here. It's just like him to be early as well.

“Brian,” Mike started

“You're late,” Brian pointed out, not bothering to look up from his cup of coffee. He looked out the window with both his hands wrapped around his coffee cup.

“Yeah, sorry. I kinda overslept,” Mike mumbled, ashamed that he had been late to such an important meeting.

“Typical,” replied Brian, still sipping his coffee. Mike blushed and sat down in the chair opposite of Brian. Brian chose to wear a white wool sweater with a matching scarf. The light from the outside shone through the big glass window and caressed Brian in its light. From Mike's point of view, Brian was angelical.

“You haven't changed, Mike. You still look at me with those eyes,” Brian commented, tearing his gaze from the view outside.

“Neither have you. Cold and distant. Emotionless as ever,” Mike snapped back, feeling the familiar flame of anger in him.

“If I haven't changed, would I be sitting in front of you right now? I've grown up over the last couple of years.” Brian paused as he took another sip of his coffee. “To tell you the truth, I've forgiven you a long time ago. But you've never had the courage to confront my childish tantrums in high school and we eventually went our own ways.”

“So you were waiting for me the whole time?” inquired Mike.

“I suppose I put too much hope on you,” said Brian, smiling. Mike sat there, silently cursing himself for missing all those opportunities. If only I had talked to him, I wouldn't have gone through all that pain. Seeing Mike's internal struggle, Brian changed the topic. “So you'll be coming to the wedding, right?”

Mike nodded. In his excitement, he had forgotten that Brian was going to get married. “Tell me about her.”

“She's a real angel,” Brian started, his eyes suddenly glossy and staring in space, “long silky black hair and lovely brown eyes. I met her at my internship. She, like me was there to learn the tricks of the trade, so to speak. We helped each other out when we had some problems. But after the internship was over, we didn't see much of each other. It wasn't until we met again several years later at our current company that we started dating. To be honest with you, I actually didn't plan to marry so fast. But, gods, I love her.” Brian smiled sheepishly at his own words. Mike felt a pang of pain seeing Brian like this but caught himself.

“From the looks of it, you're really head over heels in love with this lady. Well, I'm glad for you. I, on the other hand, am still single.”

“You haven't gotten over what happened?” Brian asked with a concerned look on his face.

Mike put up a forced smile. “I'm fine. It's just that I haven't found the right one yet.” He then dropped his gaze to his feet, finding something rather interesting to stare at. Brian knew Mike was lying but he let it slide without challenging it. An awkward silence settled between the two friends. Mike was the first one to break the silence. “It's almost time for me to get to work. I better go now.” Mike got up from the table and proceeded to walk out the door.

“So you'll be there?” Brian called out after him.

Mike slowly turned around and stared Brian in the face. His lips curled slightly, a hint of a smile. “You can count on me.”

 

Everything was so perfect. The hall was filled with white and touches of red around the place. It matched Brian perfectly. Brian himself was wearing a white tuxedo with a blood-red tie. Mike felt weak; he was grounded to the spot motionless as everyone bustled around him. He was there and yet not part of it. He had no reason to be there but for one small hope. Essentially he was nothing here, a spectator or even less. He knew he would not be observing the wedding but one person. He could not contain himself; he wanted to cry from the pain but also from the happiness he felt for Brian. A little girl bumped into him, her apologetic eyes looked at him and mumbled her sincerities, which he kindly smiled back to and forgave. The bump knocked him out of this reverie; he was here and that was all that mattered. He made a move to the back of the seating but then stopped. After all, this was the end why not indulge myself a bit? He slowly made his way near the front but as he approached the seat he had his eyes on, Brian appeared at his side.

“Enjoying the view?” Brian asked.

“Definitely. The designs are done quite nicely and I love the tux.” Mike commented after casting a quick glance at Brian. Brian flushed at the comment but Mike did not notice for that moment the bride came into the room. She was beautiful. Dressed in a simple white gown, the bride walked into the room with an air of grace. Mike knew with one glance that this woman had an unbreakable will. He quickly stole a glance at Brian and saw that Brian was in a dreamy state. Sighing, he headed to his chair, knowing that Brian was destined to be with her.

“Mike, wait.” Brian called after him. Mike stopped and turned around. “Mike, I've been thinking. Remember the emails that I've sent you back in junior high?” Mike nodded. Brian lowered his voice. “After thinking about it for a long time, I believe I owe you something. Something that had been denied to you. Think of it as compensation for all the pain I've put you through over the past few years.” Brian looked at Mike and Mike knew, in an instant, that Brian was telling the truth. Mike hesitated. They were after all, in a room full of people on Brian's wedding day. But Brian saw Mike's discomfort and reassured him. “Don't worry about them. After all, it is my big day.”

“Now?”

“Yes.”

Mike stared incredulously at Brian and his beautiful face. He felt so woozy and yet so alive. The song “I Swear” drifted into his ears and he thought about how lucky he was. Mike watched Brian's trembling fingers come closer to him. Already he could feel the…

 

The bride's mother rushed to stop Brian, shouting hysterically at Brian that it was time and for him to hurry up. Mike watched him leave. He knew that it was over but yet there was no regret and no pain anymore. Later as he watched the couple's first dance as a married couple to “I Swear”. He smile softly and turned humming along softly to the song.