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Stell doesn't really like taking calls while commuting. Having spent a considerable amount of time in Japan in his youth, he knows how talking on the phone while on trains or buses is generally frowned upon. He took that part of the Japanese culture to heart, but this is certainly an emergency call.
He's on the relatively empty New York subway, listening to his pop girl music with his earphones in his ears, and seated next to him is the most ethereal man he's seen in all of his thirty years on Earth. So ethereal indeed, with his blonde hair and ocean eyes, that Stell whips out his phone before his jaw becomes a permanent fixture on the subway floor and video calls his friend. Justin picks up right away, even though it's an ungodly hour back home, and Stell can't find it in himself to be sorry. He's much too stoked to show his friend the greatest view he's seen in the entirety of his trip in New York.
"Besh!" he whisper-shouts as soon as Justin's face, lit up by his phone screen in his otherwise dark room, swims into view.
"Besh, emergency ba 'to?" Justin says, a little dazed from sleep. "Please tell me emergency 'to."
"Emergency! May kailangan akong ipakita sa'yo."
"Ha?" Justin interjects, blinking several times to wake himself up. "Anong meron?"
"Teka, ito na nga, saglit lang," Stell says, swiftly tapping his screen twice to flip the phone camera. He wastes no time and presses it to his ear, not bothering to remove his earphones to pretend to talk to Justin via audio as opposed to video. "Kita mo na?"
"Besh. Ang gwapo."
"'Di ba?" Stell says, whisper-shrieking in his excitement. "Sobrang gandang lalaki. 'Di ko na kailangang maglibot. Pinakamagandang tanawin dito sa NYC," he continues, making sure he's still speaking in Tagalog just to be safe.
Justin's breath seems to hitch on the other end of the line. "Ah, besh?" he says, sounding uncertain.
"Yes, besh?"
"Nakatingin si kuya rito."
"Ha?"
"Si kuya, nakatingin sa phone mo."
Stell feels hot all of a sudden. And it's fucking fall. "Seryoso?"
"Oo. At nakangiti rin, besh."
Stell shuts his eyes, feeling goosebumps sprout on his nape. "Shuta," is all he manages.
"Oo. Gaga ka, nakahalata ata. Sigurado ka bang 'di nakakaintindi ng Tagalog 'yan?"
"Hindi ko alam. Akala ko kano."
"Gago, ngumingisi na." There's a click, the sound of a phone camera going off. "Gago, kinuhanan ka ng picture."
His collar has started to chafe him. He takes the phone away from his ear and promptly realizes why the guy has found amusement in what he was doing.
The phone camera didn't flip, and he had pressed the phone to his ear the other way around. All the while he was talking to Justin and simping over a stranger, said stranger could see that he was on camera.
His heart jumps to his throat. He resists the urge to look to the side and face the stranger that now rhymes with danger. "Tangina. Ang tanga ko, besh."
"Bakit?"
Stell slowly peels himself off his seat. "Mamaya ko na iku-kwento. Kailangan ko munang makalabas dito," he whispers.
"Gagi, 'wag mong ibababa 'tong call ha."
"Oo, besh," Stell says before walking toward the train doors. He doesn't know if the next stop is nearby, but he's so jumping the hell out of the train the moment the doors open, never looking back.
Except Stell feels someone come up to him and stand behind him, a warm body that presses ever so slightly against Stell's shaking frame.
"Hey," a deep, deep voice that would've been out of a wet dream if not for the fact that he's now in a horror flick resounds off to his left. It sends a thrill down Stell's spine, and he closes his eyes. "Sa'n punta mo?"
Stell bites back the gasp that threatens to slip past his lips. He does understand Tagalog. No fucking wonder.
"'Wag kang sasagot, besh," Justin voice cuts through the roaring pulse in his ears.
Stell does exactly as he's told, counting up from zero to keep himself from detonating then and there.
"I'm not gonna hurt you," says the man, sounding sincere. He has that English twang, and Stell wants to melt and cry at the same time. Maybe even beg for mercy. "I think the goof-up was cute."
Stell feels his cheeks heat up at that. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten.
"And if it counts, I think you're the best view in New York, too."
The train grinds to a halt, but Stell is rooted to where he stands. Justin is quiet on the other end, but Stell can hear him breathing, anticipating. Even so, nothing can stop Stell from turning around now to face the man and see for himself if what was just said is for real.
New York's reputation isn't the best. He's seen people push each other around and cuss others out for simply being on their way. Turning around now instead of booking it presents a fifty-fifty chance of getting slugged in the face.
Booking it instead of turning around now equals a fifty-fifty chance of getting tripped up and dying on the tracks.
But something warm finds his hand, and Stell jumps out of his skin. His head whips down to where his hand is intertwined with someone else's, leather-gloved and secure. Before he can help it, he's tracing the hand up where it connects with a steady arm and, further up, a smiling, handsome, beautiful face.
"Finally, you look at me," the man says, his smile growing into a grin that cuts his face in half. "I'm Ken. Anong pangalan mo, kabayan?"
"Besh?" Justin's voice comes through. "Don't say it."
But Stell doesn't heed the warning. Something about the man's face screams, 'Trust him.'
And maybe it's because he's in New York, the setting of all those sappy romantic films, that he responds with, "S-Stell."
The train starts again.
"Nice to meet you, Stell," Ken says, bringing the hand that he's clasping to his lips and kissing Stell's knuckles. All the while, he's staring at Stell with those piercing eyes. Stell's entire face heats up, and his insides turn into putty. "Would you like to join me for coffee?"
"Besh?"
Stell takes out his phone, which he's been grasping inside his coat, and turns it the right way this time so Justin can see for himself that Stell has just scored himself a date in the greatest city in the world.
"I think I have to go."
"Ang landi mo," Justin says, grinning. "Pero sige, may insurance ka naman. Send location pa rin, though."
Giggling and giddy, Stell ends the call, sends Justin his location, and turns to Ken. "Stranger danger," he says, by way of explanation.
"My ID ako, pakita ko sa'yo. Send mo sa besh mo."
Stell blushes at the subtle teasing, but he shakes it off. "Okay, ako rin. Ewan ko lang kung sinong besh mo ang sesendan mo."
Ken smiles again. "There are two of them. Josh and Pablo."
"Okay," Stell says, smiling back.
They stare at each other until the next stop, where they alight and walk out and onto the bustling streets of New York, hand in hand.
And Stell thanks his lucky stars for a call gone wrong, a call gone right.