Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2018 13:05:02 GMT -6
True Meaning
It was a picture perfect Christmas morning. The snow was falling in a steady, silent flurry outside the window, the smell of coffee and cinnamon rolls permeated the living room, and a crumpled twinkle of discarded wrapping paper was scattered festively on the floor.
They had given each other quite a few gifts by now- mostly useful things, or fun little toys- a tool kit, an old school Game Boy, an assortment of cookbooks, a slick pair of custom Reeboks, things like that. At this point, there was only one gift left apiece.
Reaching under the tree, Mike plucked up the penultimate box, wrapped in green foil paper with silver and orange bows stuck on. It was about half the size of a shoebox and had slight weight to it. They could feel their heart pounding in their chest a bit- sure, they’d practically showered their partner with gifts, but this was the big one. This, above all the others, was important. Their smile was on the verge of giddy as they handed the present over.
“Here y’go, bud. Last one.”
John carefully took off the bow and removed the wrapping paper to reveal a dark green wooden box. His finger traced along the clasp holding it closed and then flipped it up. The lid popped open to reveal a plush cream interior and, nestled in the center, a spectacular golden watch. The band and face were of gleaming yellow gold, the bezel a lighter champagne. A small, distinctive maker’s mark, a crown, was engraved right under the twelve-o-clock mark, as well as in raised relief on the dial. The center was marked ‘Sky-Dweller, Oyster Perpetual’.
Upon removing the timepiece from its box, the caseback bore a simple laser engraving.
‘JBC + MMM. 3-31-18.’
The day they’d first met.
To the untrained eye, John’s lack of outward reaction would warrant panic. But John’s thumb grazed against the engraving and there was a small curve of a smile.
“That was shaping up to be a pretty bad day.”
“You nearly set your fuckin’ car on fire, I’d say so. But hey, things like that kinda lend credence to the existence of, y’know, serendipity an’ shit.”
Mike laughed warmly. Neither of them had known how this would all turn out that day, but it really had been the tipping of a single domino into a fantastic cascade.
“Anyway, I, um… heh. You know, The Man says every great champion should have one of those. And you were champion before I was.”
“I guess so. I like what we’ve done better.”
He admired the gold watch - but more so the thought of it.
“I’m afraid your last gift isn’t so grand.”
He set the watch back into its box and set it down in front of him on the coffee table. There was one flat rectangular box left. Wrapped neatly in non descript glossy dark blue paper with two pieces of orange ribbon meeting in the middle. He handed it to Mike.
Mike, for their part, tore into the gift like some sort of ravenous wolf disemboweling a gazelle. Once all the paper had been shredded away, though, they stopped short, eyes widening, hands flying to their mouth in a gasp.
“It was covered up in the debris.”
It was a triangle shaped piece of felt in a new wooden frame enclosed by a glass panel.
“And it got singed a little but it was the only thing left.”
It was an autographed 1973 New York Mets Willie Mays pennant. Not any one of these, rare as they may be, because it was Mike’s.
For once, the Bronx brawler was speechless. Their eyes welled up as their fingers brushed over the glass, making their view of the piece of memorabilia they thought they’d lost forever a bit wobbly. Just sure as the date was cast in gold on the back of John’s new Rolex, Mike now had the last bit of the place. How much it meant to them couldn’t be articulated.
Reverently setting it aside, Mike all but pounced their partner, their arms winding around his neck, her cheek brushing fondly against his rougher one as they uttered a choked-up whisper in his ear.
“I love it. Thank you… so much.”
For John’s part, he had stopped any aversion to their touch even before the formality of what some would call this.
John and Mike were business partners. Fellow professionals. Housemates. Friends even on the forefront. And even it if seemed obvious - the rest was unspoken. To a keen sense of perception, a poorly kept secret but one nonetheless. This moment wouldn’t be posted to the world with a hashtag to signify the occasion. It was private and sacred. Two souls fumbling through the dark and now they’ve found someone within reach. Huddled together tenaciously. This new year was a new frontier for the both of them. To settle into the foreign concept of normalcy. Perhaps with a creeping sense of paranoia that the knowledge of it could be used to their detriment. And a fear of the unknown.
But this moment allowed Mike especially to push that aside for the briefest of moments. To look in their partner’s eyes trying to divine just how he had survived in a world that wanted nothing to do with him - and John so oblivious to it. With so many barriers still up, it felt good to know that one never existed in the first place.
Clearly, the feelings were mutual.