Early Saturday afternoon.
Yoshi: hey
The mechanic's phone vibrated loudly on his bedside table. He prised his eyes open, squinted at the screen and put his thumbs into gear.
Mack: fuck, punk, you woke me up
Yoshi: are you sick?
Mack: nah, I'm fine, just having a nap
Yoshi: did u have a big night last night?
Mack: nah not really, just had a few beers with a mate at the caxton hotel, been up for breakkie already, but for some reason I felt like going back to sleep for a bit. what did you get up to last night?
Yoshi: went to the movies on my own, had a hot date with a choctop ice-cream cone... if you fear my answers, don't ask me any questions
The mechanic laughed.
Mack: hey so you remember that night you and I went to a rugby game earlier this year with some of my mates
Yoshi: yeah
Mack: do you remember my mate ryan
Yoshi: kind of maybe... i think there were two meathead bogans but i can't remember which was which
The mechanic ignored the obvious slight directed at his mates.
Mack: so anyway i had a few beers with ryan last night and let's just say the conversation got serious
The emo read between the lines.
Yoshi: oh no... wait, you mean me? us?
Mack: yeah
The emo realised Mack had just come out to one of his mates.
Yoshi: fuck, big guy, are you ok?
The mechanic's response was lengthy, and the emo waited impatiently as he watched three animated dots bouncing around on his screen.
Mack: yeah, I think so... maybe that's why I was taking a nap, because it feels like some of the worries I've been carrying around have slipped away and I feel much more relaxed about everything... so yeah I guess you could say it went well... I can tell you about it later... we talked about how abby and I aren't together anymore, and that's tough for him because he's known her as long as he's known me because she and I were already together when I first met him, so it's kind of like he's lost a connection with an old friend, or at the very least, the connection between him and abby won't be the same as it was before... but when i told him I'd hooked up with a dude he surprised the fuck out of me
Yoshi: what do u mean
Mack: i thought when i told him I was with a guy it'd... I dunno... change our friendship somehow, or maybe even end it, but I don't think it did... everything felt the same
Yoshi: ok so what happened
Mack: he asked if i was happy and i said yes and he said that's all that really matters and i reckon he's right about that... and then I told him you were the guy I'd met (by the way, he remembered you -- I think he called you the asian cunt with the pierced face) and I expected him to freak out about that, but again, he didn't... he said something about you being young, but he also said you're obviously legal
Yoshi: ps I'm 100% legal, big guy :)
Mack: and 100% sexy as fuck, too
Yoshi: *blushes* so everything's good, right?
Mack: yeah. it is.
Yoshi: *wipes tear from eye* if you lose friends because of this, they weren't ever your friends to begin with... like, you know that, right?
Mack: yeah. ryan said he's sad that i'm not with abby anymore, which I totally get, because we'd been together for so long that our friends must've thought were inseparable, so I guess it's a shock to them... we used to take roadtrips together and have barbeques together, but that's all over now... our mutual friends still need time to adjust
Yoshi: they'll find other ways to reconnect with her... they'll work it out somehow
Mack: i know...
Yoshi: but why does he think my face is pierced? it's just my nose and my lip, that's not my face
Mack: got no idea
Yoshi: does he know one of my titties is pierced too?
Mack: *laughs*
Yoshi: maybe I should get the other one done too... hey im gonna say it again... you can still mend fences with abby and go back to how things were... like, i love you, big guy, and i don't want you to think i'm having second thoughts about anything because i'm not, but at the same time, i know i'm way younger than you and i think i know what you're giving up
Mack: you've said that a few times now, and I appreciate your concern, but you really don't need to be worried... it's way too late for me to think about trying to turn the clock backwards, and even if that was possible, i don't think i'd want to anyway... i'm always gonna love abby because we spent so much time together and she's my daughters' mum, so we'll always be connected through our kids, but everything about the life we lived together feels weirdly distant now, and not immediate... not like how i feel about you
Yoshi: *cries*
Mack: my apartment feels a little bit empty... come over?
Yoshi: it'd be nice to lie in bed next to you all afternoon
Mack: the invitation's there...
Yoshi: ok, lemme grab my backpack and keys
As soon as the text message conversation with the emo ended, the mechanic's phone rang. It was his eldest daughter, just checking in on her dad. They talked for about twenty minutes, and Mack ended the call grateful to know that, despite everything that had happened, his relationship with his kids remained strong. They arranged to have dinner soon.
He waited for the emo to arrive. He stared at the ceiling, waiting.
*
The intercom buzzed, and Mack got out of bed to let Yoshi up. A few minutes later, the mechanic heard a knock. He opened the door, completely naked.
"What the fuck's this?" the emo protested, but the huge grin on his face gave the game away. He glanced down at his host's huge flaccid dick. "No clothes for your special guest?"
"Well," Mack smiled, "you got me out of bed, right? And you already know I don't wear anything to bed. Well, sometimes a t-shirt, but never anything else."
The emo closed the mechanic's front door behind him. "Maybe we need to get you back to bed again, then." He leaned in close, gently cupping and squeezing Mack's balls in his palm. He heard the mechanic sigh. He knew he was getting him hard. "Come on, big guy."
Yoshi threw his clothes off, standing naked, creating an untidy pile at the foot of the mechanic's mattress. They climbed under the bed clothes and kissed for a few moments before the mechanic rolled over to lay on his back.
"OK," Mack began, staring at the ceiling, "so let me tell you what happened last night. Ryan messaged me yesterday arvo and suggested we catch up for a beer. I said yes, because he's a good mate, and because I haven't seen him in a while. We were talking about various bullshit topics until he mentioned Abby, then we got onto talking about rugby, and I mentioned I'd bought two tickets for the game against New Zealand next weekend. He asked who the other seat was for, and... well, you already know the basics of how that panned out."
"Fuck, dude," said the emo. "That must've been hard."
"Yeah, it wasn't easy. I could sense where the conversation was heading, but I wasn't sure if I was ready for it, so I escaped to the bathroom, pretending I needed to take a piss, but really, I just needed to steal a minute to settle myself. In my mind, I had two choices. One was to make an excuse and leave, and the other was to follow the thread of the conversation and to be as honest as I could, not knowing how he might respond." He stared at the ceiling for a minute, collecting his thoughts. "I knew he wasn't prying, and he wasn't digging for gossip, and he seemed genuinely curious about who I'd met, though like I said, initially he assumed I'd hooked up with a chick. When I told him I'd met a dude, it felt like the words spewed out of my mouth before I could stop them, but once they were said, I had no regrets. Even so, there was a very real chance my life could've changed -- yet again -- in ways I couldn't control, and for a few brief seconds of panic, I started to wonder how well I really knew him."
"You mean, like, not knowing how he'd respond?"
"Well, yeah."