in the bathroom at a party

１

ASTROPHEL
masculine. greek. 
“lover of stars”. 
from the sonnets of 
astrophel and stella 
by philip sidney. 

     he was born of and named after stars; raised to be the bright side of everyone’s life. he was never given the option. and now, dammit, here he was, trying to hold onto himself just for a few more minutes until he could make his way through the heavy crowd and hide somewhere more private. he wanted to be alone, left by himself in a preferably dark, somewhat isolated room that had some sort of soundproofing.

     it was too loud and bright and everyone was pushing him, touching him, grabbing and yelling and hitting. he hated it. he never liked parties, despite how many he had forced his way through up to this point, and one this big was taking a toll on him. astrophel had an excuse made up so far back in his head by the time he reached the bathroom that he wouldn’t be expected back for the rest of the night, closing the door just before the next song started on the playlist.

     he stopped by the sink and checked his eyes, breath, and the color of his face. were his eyes redder than usual?was his breath tainted with the alcohol? he managed to not notice if so. he splashed some water onto his face and sighed heavily, leaning with his hands on the table and bobbing back and forth on his arms.

     “oohh, astro, you really need to quit doing this to yourself,” he muttered into himself, before returning to his previous stance. “it really isn’t good for you. take better care of yourself soon.”

     the door clicked open and he barely moved, aside from looking up to the mirror before they walked in.

SIRIUS
masculine. greek. 
“burning”. 
the name of the 
brightest star in the 
sky, the “dog star”. 

     he was not born easy, but he was born, though he sometimes wishes he wasn’t born as harshly as he was. it would have been easier on his mom. and he was here wasting his body and the life she had given him by drinking at a highschool party. but he wasn’t really drinking. he was dragged along here with his friends, and agreed to come for the designated driver role, as long as he wouldn’t worry his dad when he came home.

     “where can i make a call?” he asks at full volume, his voice almost giving out from all of the shouting he’s done in the past few hours.

     “the bathroom’s over there, if you wanna try there,” the host replies, their hands shaking with the next sip of their water. “it’s usually pretty quiet in there, so that would be the best place to go.”

     he walked toward it, with a simple nod and hand gesture to thank them, tripping over the kid that somehow managed fall asleep on the floor. they were being trampled and tripped over and it was loud, what a miracle it was they fell asleep there. he opened the door and froze in place.

     no one was supposed to be in here, but there was someone there. they looked dazed and uneasy, standing by the sink and staring into the mirror. it took a full few seconds before he could move away and close the door, and they stood in place, staring at each other through that time, only making everything feel even more awkward.

     to make things worse, he stepped in before closing the door and just stood there.