Work Text:
Butterfly
I used to think that happy endings were only in the books I read — Butterfly, by Crazy Town
It was a normal day.
Adam left his apartment around 8 a.m. and made his way to the subway station. He hated it with a passion, but it was his only way to get to work. He was still too anxious to get his drivers license.
He waited at his stop with his hands in his pockets. The weather was cold and it should snow in the next days. The subway station was not as crowded as it should be. Maybe it was because technically it was a work free day and Adam only wanted to go to work, because there would be a tour with interested students who booked his special interest tour.
A tour about Supernovas.
He knew everything about them. From how big they can get, to how light they can get. It was one of his special interests in astronomy, even if the mass didn’t think like that.
The subway comes rushing in. Adam got ready to get in, he already had his ticket and everything in his hand, when he noticed someone sitting in the subway through the dirty windows.
The man was doing something on his phone, absently brushing his hand through his silver blond hair. He could make out the strangers pointy teeth, looking oddly beautiful in Adam’s eyes.
Adam never saw a man this handsome in his life, well he never found a man attractive either. He had something that sparked Adam‘s interest.
The door of the subway opened and a few people rushed out. After they were gone, Adam went in and looked for a place to sit.
He wanted to sit beside he man, but Harlan taught him subway etiquette.
1. Don’t go near any weird looking people.
2. Always let older or pregnant people sit, if there are no seats free.
3. Don’t sit beside people, if there are enough free seats available. ‘‘You will look like a creep, Adam.‘‘ Harlan would say.
The subway started to move and Adam walked towards the man. He tried not to touch the railings too much. He didn’t like how the dirty metal felt against his hand.
In a row behind the man were two free seats.
Adam looked at the ground, as he walked past the man, and sat down behind him.
Adam‘s stop was still five stations away, so he had enough time to study the man.
He knew that it was weird to do so, Harlan told him so, but he found it relaxing. He learned that way how to react to certain situations and how important showing your emotions was. Adam still wasn’t too good in it, but he liked to learn new things. It‘s one thing he was good at.
The man was still doing something on his phone.
Adam wasn’t able to see what he did, but whatever it was made the man smile. His hair fell in his eyes, his hand was constantly brushing through it.
He wore one tiny earring in his left ear, which was a simple creole in gold. He wore two rigs, also in gold and a thick golden necklace. Gold was his color. Adam had to admit that against the man‘s tan skin, the jewellery stood out beautifully.
The man's physic was, from what Adam could tell, muscular and broad. Totally opposite from what Adam looked like. Adam liked that. He liked that a lot.
The subway came to a stop and the man stood up. He grew even taller than Adam had anticipated.
His hands grabbed the railing as he put on his jacket, that was laying on his lap a few seconds ago. His phone was laying on the seat beside him, as he had to put his jacket on. He walked to the exit. The door closed again, this time with the man being on the opposite side of the subway.
It began to move again as Adam heard something vibrate on the seat in front of him. He peeked over the back rests and saw the phone from the man laying there peacefully. He knew he shouldn’t have taken it, but he couldn’t resist his curiosity, so he took it.
………………………
After work, Adam returned home and immediately took a shower. The phone vibrated all day long, but Adam didn’t have the courage to snoop around in it. It was bad enough that he took it with him, but his plan was to give it back to the man.
His shower was exactly fifteen minutes long. His whole bathroom was fogged up as he searched around for his pyjamas. He always hung them up on the small hook behind the door, but they fell down. He put them on and went to the kitchen. His checkered pants were hanging low around his waist and the legs were loosely whooshing around his legs with every step. He hated too tight sleep wear.
Going through the open kitchen door, he saw the phone’s screen lighten up on the kitchen table. He gave it a quick glance, but made his way to the freezer. He took out his favourite meal; macaroni and cheese with broccoli. Adam heated up the oven and put his frozen meal in it.
The phone vibrated again.
It began to annoy Adam.
His apartment was always quiet, except when he was watching his favourite show ‘‘Inside the Actor’s Studio‘‘.
He still sat down at the table and waited for his food.
Normally he would open his mail while waiting, but the mail-man left him a note last week, that he wouldn’t come this week due to a strike. It was a kind thing to do. Adam hated any changes he didn’t know about.
So Adam had nothing to do.
The food had to be at least in the oven for ten minutes. Adam glanced again to the phone and let his curiosity win.
It wasn’t legal to look at another person phone, but Harlan said ‘‘You have to jump over your shadow, kid.‘‘ Well, Adam wasn’t quite sure how he should jump over his own shadow, as it moved with him all the time, but Harlan explained it to him. ‘‘I mean you have to try new things, even if they scare you‘‘.
That’s what Adam did.
He took the phone. It was an old iPhone 6 in silver with a cracked screen. The phone case was black with a white butterfly on it.
He pressed the power button.
The screen came to live.
The wallpaper was a picture of the man sitting with another man in a bar. They both had prominent face structures. The other man had shorter hair, which was a dark blond or lighter brown. They were both smoking and grinning in the camera and had red, ruddy cheeks.
The man from the subway looked even more attractive in the picture, than in the subway. He wore a black polo shirt, which wasn’t fully buttoned up and revealed his coarse silver chest hair. Adam had to swallow. He didn’t know why, but his heart begin to pound. That was new.
Adam‘s finger slid over the screen and saw that the phone had a passcode. He bit his lip, as he tried the most simple code, 1234. The phone changed the screen and Adam saw the Homescreen. He didn’t think he would come this far to be honest.
Adam was about to press the power button again, to turn it off, but suddenly the phone showed a picture of the subway‘s man friend. ‘Darko‘ read the screen in big letters. Adam wasn’t about to take the call.
He threw the phone on the table and stood up.
He didn’t think somebody would call, but now that he thinks about it, it‘s only logical. If Harlan wouldn’t answer his phone all day, Adam would try to call him too.
The phone went silent again and Adam visibly relaxed. He hurried to the table and pressed the power button of the phone long enough to shut it down. He didn’t want to get any other calls.
Adam sat down again. His stomach let out a rumble, at what he looked to the oven. His food was ready. He stood up and took it out.
As he was walking to the dining table, which sat in the living room, Adam thought about something.
The man from the subway caught his attention, maybe Adam could use the whole phone situation to begin a conversation, so that he wasn’t ‘being a creep‘ as Harlan would call him.
He nodded at that and sat down.
His laptop, with one big NASA sticker on the cover, was placed right opposite of him. Exactly where he left it yesterday. He opened it and unlocked it. It immediately showed the ‘Continue button‘. He pressed it and continued his usual evening routine.
………………
Adam found himself back at the subway station like everyday. Except today he had a phone with him, that wasn’t his. He was nervous. Hopefully the man wouldn’t be too mad at him.
The subway came and he went in. To his luck sat the man at the same seat as the day before, so Adam didn’t have to keep the phone much longer.
He didn’t like doing things he wasn’t supposed to be doing.
The subway began to move, which startled Adam‘s balance. He had to grab one of the many railings to stabilise himself or he would have fallen over.
The man was sitting two rows away from him. He was looking out of the window, but kept glancing left and right every few seconds.
Adam was nearly right in front of him, when the man called out to him.
‘‘Hey!‘‘ Adam knew he was meant, because the man was even pointing at him.
‘‘I saw you yesterday,‘‘, he began and scooted to the seat that was by the window. His accent was thick, it sounded heavenly. Adam didn’t know what to do, so he held on to the top of the seat and nodded. The man let out a relieved sigh as his hand brushed through his hair.
‘‘Have you seen my fucking phone?‘‘ The man asked and pointed at the seat where he was sitting just minutes ago. ‘‘I fucking left it right there and now the goddamned thing is fucking gone.‘‘ Adam looked at the man‘s small earring, it reflected the light beautifully and Adam wanted to touch it. Wanted to feel the material against his fingers. Was it aluminium sprayed in a gold colour? Or was is real gold?
‘‘Hello?‘‘ The man waved with his hand in front of Adam‘s eyes, wanting to get his attention back. Adam picked with his thumb his index finger, feeling caught doing something that wasn’t part of holding the conversation going.
“Yes.“ Adam said, while his left hand let go of the seat and pulled the phone out of his jacket. “I didn’t snoop around in it!“ Adam said too quick, the phone wasn’t even in the man‘s hand.
The man smirked when he saw how Adam blushed and took the phone. “No fucking worries, gorgeous.“ Adam‘s ears perked up at the nickname as he visible felt flustered.
“I‘m Nigel, by the way.“ Nigel held his hand out towards Adam. Adam was about to shake his hand, when Nigel stood up and gave the back of his hand a quick kiss. “I-I‘m Ad-Adam.“ Adam shook his head at the way he stuttered his name out. He never stuttered.
“Adam.“ It did have a nice ring to it the way Nigel spoke out his name with a thick accent.
“I hope you put your fucking number in that thing, Adam.“ Normally Adam hated curse words and informal conversations. But with Nigel it was bearable.
Adam shook his head. “I didn’t want to invade your privacy.“ Nigel pursed his lips and nodded.
With a quick hand he pulled a pen out of his pocket. Only then did Adam notice, that they were still holding each other’s hand.
Nigel opened the pen with one hand and threw the cap on the ground. “You know what,“ He began to write his phone number on Adam‘s hand. The feeling wasn’t too nice, but Adam‘s mind was too overwhelmed at the moment.
“Fucking call me if you want, gorgeous.“ Nigel winked at Adam as he finished his number off with his name. “A handsome man like you, will get fucking hundred phone numbers a day, I bet.“ He shoved the pen back in his pocket and let go of Adam‘s hand.
“Maybe I‘ll be the lucky fucker, who wins today.“ Nigel winked and the subway stopped. He gave Adam one last ‘Hope to see you in the call‘ and walked out.
Adam stood their in the slowly feeling subway feeling lost.
What did just happen?
And what did Nigel mean with ‘seeing each other in the call’?