after valentín had come to his senses he thought it would be best if he got some air. he unlatched his window and climbed out and began to make his way carefully off his roof.
—
cassius was tired of being at home, especially with his mother. he didn't care about finding his friends. he needed air. before he climbed out he checked his wall clock. four in the morning. he opened the window and hopped out.
he walked the sidewalk all the way into the city, letting his feet carry him. he took out his cigarette pack that was stuffed in his jacket pocket and pulled one out. he lit it and took a long breath and blew smoke.
—
valentín stood and stared at the enormous tower as the chilly air blew his hair every which way. he wanted to hear that boy he saw at the concerts voice, mainly because he wanted to know if his mind's interpretation was right or not, but he really wanted to see him again.
cassius eventually made it to the effiel tower, and instead of the plaza being completely empty, there was a boy standing on the opposite side of the street. he looked familiar based on his height and the way his clothes looked a bit oversized on him. the more cassius looked, he realized that the boy across the street was the boy he had wanted to find so badly ever since he watched him walk out of the concert hall. after what felt like an eternity of contemplating going over to him, he finally shut off his brain and just walked over.
—
staring at the large tower put valentín in some sort of a trance, but that happened a lot. because of this, he didn't hear the large footsteps coming in his direction. the only thing that snapped him out of it was the taps on his shoulder.
he looked over to see the same boy from the concert. after he realized that he wasn't a figure of his imagination, he jumped. a million questions went around and around in his brain before he actually said something.
was this real?
is it a dream?
a hallucination?
"you were at that concert, right?" surprisingly, he spoke french, and he didn't look french at all. his french wasn't the best but he could understand him. the boy spoke so confidently, which amazed valentín. it was so natural, he made it sound like a greeting between two friends.
after valentín caught his breath, he finally said something. "y-yes! i saw you there too! my name is valentín. what's yours?" after taking a moment to do his best to decipher valentín's response, he gave up and decided to just use english and hope that he would understand.
cassius gave an awkward laugh in hopes to make this exchange less awkward. "sorry, i'm not good at french. name's cassius. i'm from italy." he stuck his hand out to shake.
ever since he saw him in his room, valentín really just wanted to kiss cassius. he knew this was a really really bad idea but he wanted to. but he kept this inside his head and shook cassius's hand.
"i'm sorry if i made you uncomfortable tonight. i didn't expect to see someone like you enjoying such a 'girly' band like that." he hoped that didn't sound mean. thankfully cassius found that remark funny and laughed.
"my personal tastes would definitely surprise you then."
cassius began walking as they both talked about small things, which most would find boring, but since they were with valentín, they really weren't. he liked hearing him talk, and he was sure if it was even about the nice weather they were having, he would still be just as engaged in the conversation.
—
as the night turned into dusk, valentín yawned mid-sentence. this made cassius look towards the nearest clock, which made him realize how long they both had been talking for.
"shit, sorry, i didn't mean to keep you this long." they both stopped walking and turned towards each other, almost in unison.
"no! i've enjoyed it, i promise," valentín rubbed his eyes.
—
"well, before you go," cassius dug around his pocket for a slip of paper. "here's my number. you should call me soon." before valentín could say anything, cassius had taken off.
