“Maybe it had nothing to do with anything,” Dominic said with a shrug of his shoulders. “Maybe it was all just part of the random synchronicity of life,” he added. “Zac, I suppose the words random and synchronous combined, seems an incongruous mix but sometimes that’s how life seems to me, either a Swiss timepiece or a chaotic havoc. What I’m saying is that when the collision occurred, it really did seem as much chaotic as it felt synchronous. Everything that followed after our paths crossed seemed as if their details had been invited to accompany the first day of spring.”

 

“Poetry in motion,” Zac mused.

 

Zac meant what he said but he thought Dom sounded oddly different. Zac was surprised by a new craft and even a new intelligence to the way Dom was speaking.

 

“I guess you could say that and I’m not saying it was anything other than a perfect moment in time but the thing is, I always believed those things only existed in romance novels and fluffy movies. I never believed that sort of thing was real and certainly not for someone like me,” Dom said.

 

Zac queried, “Someone like you?”

 

“Yeah Zac, someone as average and ordinary as me.”

 

“Dom, there’s nothing wrong with you.”

 

“I know but I’m nothing special. I mean I’m not a model, I’m not rich, I’m not famous and for want of a better cliché, I’ve never been the belle of the ball,” Dom said.

 

“So what? Beauty’s in the eye of the beholder and not all beauty is physical in nature, often it can be internal as well. Remember, most people on the planet are average and the majority of lives are average as well,” Zac replied.

 

“Zac, you’re taking me the wrong way. I’m not saying it’s bad to be average. I’m just saying that because I’ve always been average, I never believed I would be anything more than average. Even though one thing has nothing to do with the other, in my mind at least, I believed nothing special would ever happen to me either. To me, average and nothing special went hand-in-hand as an attitude.”

 

“I never realised you felt that way,” Zac said.

 

“Oh, it wasn’t a major revelation, it was just what I came to believe and accept. I had no idea I was going to be proven wrong, though,” Dom clarified.

 

“Okay, so I’m beginning to realise just how long I’ve been overseas. I didn’t think three years was a long time but I guess people can change a great deal in three years. I just didn’t realise how much. When I left we were both twenty-one and also two sides of a coin but you seem so different to the man I left behind. How about you make us a coffee and then we can sit back and before you continue with the story you’ve started, you can explain to me who this man is that my best friend has become.”

 

“No problem,” Dom said.

 

Dom and Zac had been friends since their first day of school. They were not just friends; they were confidants and brothers. They were not actually related but with their deep connection, it would not have surprised them if someone assumed they were actual brothers.

 

In addition, when they were twelve, a sleepover at Zac’s house uncovered the realisation they were both gay. It had been quite the discovery and led to exploration and experimentation. However, as their adolescence drew to a close, they both knew what they were looking for would not be found in each other. There were no broken hearts and only a transition for both, as they moved from their closest friend to the boys that waited in the unknown future.

 

Zac was the better looking of the two and he also had the more striking body. He stood one metre seventy-eight and was both solid and well shaped. He had brown hair and chocolate eyes and he also had a more socially confident nature.

 

Dom on the other hand had been a small and skinny boy. Now he was the same height as Zac but that was where the similarities ended. He had filled out with age and was nicely defined but he was slim as opposed to Zac’s jock-like beefiness. Dom had dark blue eyes and dirty blonde hair.

 

Zac was good at school but Dom had never shown any degree of scholastic orientation. When school was over, Zac moved with confidence into the corporate sector of telecommunications. He had plans for his life and had no doubts he would do well.

 

Dom was once again on the other side of the coin. He lived with few aspirations or ambitions and only thought in terms of one moment to the next. When it was time to work, he thought in terms of money for food and a roof over his head. In his mind, security was an inward concern and he felt no leaning toward wealth or status. He took the first job he looked at, a labouring position in a cardboard factory.

 

Zac’s plan was to work for a couple of years and while gaining experience for his future, he would save hard and then enjoy himself before settling into life’s slog. At twenty-one, he took his first nest egg, packed a bag and then took off for a working holiday in America.

 

It did not matter who they were or what they did, they both believed nothing was going to break their connection and so, though they knew they would miss each other while apart, both young men believed it would only be temporary until Zac returned to Sydney.

 

“You really do seem different in the way you’re talking,” Zac said as Dom lay down on the lounge “but you still make a great cup of coffee,” he added.

 

“Yeah, I still jerk off in your cup,” Dom said.

 

“Ooo, baby, talk dirty to me,” Zac said and then pinched his nipple and licked his lips.

 

“Sick fucker,” Dom said, scrunching his face and filling his eyes with shock, as if he were disgusted.

 

“Spare me your attempt at a horrified look. We both know what a deviant you are and what you like to get up to in bed,” Zac countered with a laugh.

 

“Damn it, I was hoping you’d have forgotten my prior inclinations during the three years you’ve been sexually abusing the gay American population. I really pity all of those innocent American men.”

 

“They all loved it,” Zac said.

 

“Self praise is no recommendation,” Dom shot back.

 

Zac jumped up from his single seat chair and dived onto the lounge, his body landing prostrate on top of Dom’s. Both the young men’s arms were locked around each other in an instant and in seconds there was a huge thud, as they both rolled onto the floor.

 

Laughter and strained growls filled the small house as they wrestled for dominance. It was their long revered way of finalising a stalemate in their verbal jousting.

 

Zac was suddenly beneath Dom, his face being smothered by the green and gold material of the Australian rugby team football shorts, as Dom pushed his crotch and therefore his balls over his face. Dom also grabbed a leg and an arm at the same time, pinning Zac in position.

 

Zac started to laugh despite his lack of oxygen and relaxed his body, knowing Dom would ease off as a consequence. He was right and Dom’s grip softened. A moment later the tide turned and the battle was won.

 

With a few quick moves, Dom was on his stomach and his arms were locked behind his back. With Zac’s legs also entwined around Dom’s legs, they too were being subdued from movement, leaving Dom no ability for escape.

 

“Admit defeat,” Zac whispered into Dom’s ear.

 

“You win,” Dom said.

 

“Nothing ever changes, I’ll always be superior,” Zac condescended.

 

“I guess you have to be good at something,” Dom shot back.

 

“I’m better at everything,” Zac said.

 

“Yeah, you’re a better legend in your own mind.”

 

“You’re impossible, Dom, you always have to have the last word,” Zac said and released his grip before they returned to their respective seats.

 

Zac adjusted his twisted clothes for better comfort and then adjusted his arse on the cushion of his chair. When he looked up, Dom was lying down on the lounge again and looking at him with a questioning expression.

 

Zac asked, “What’s going on in that thing you call a mind?”

 

“What did you mean when you said you thought I was really different from before you took off to the States?”

 

“It’s a lot of things really, little things but a lot of things. I’ve only been back for a couple of hours so I haven’t fully processed it all yet. The main thing though, is you sound different. I mean, the way you talk. There’s a maturity that wasn’t there before, which I guess is natural but there’s also, I don’t know, it’s like you’ve been back to school and studied English all over again. Did you take a class while I was gone?”

 

“No, I just released what was always there,” Dom explained.

 

“Dom, if you’d done that at school, your grades would’ve been so much better and you could have gotten a better job.”

 

“I know but back then, I didn’t want a spotlight or to be singled out. The easiest way was to play dumb,” Dom admitted.

 

Zac asked with a disbelieving tone, “Are you shitting me?”

 

“No,” Dom replied.

 

“There! I mean that’s another thing. We told each other everything all our lives or so I thought and now you’re telling me you were pretending to be something you weren’t. What you’re saying is that part of my best friend wasn’t real?”

 

“Everything else was real and I didn’t think that it would matter,” Dom said.

 

“Well, it didn’t matter and I suppose it doesn’t but still, I’m learning all of this shit about you that I never knew,” Zac said while still shocked.

 

“I’m sorry. I really didn’t think it was important enough to warrant mentioning,” Dom clarified.

 

“How can you say that? Dom, we’ve been like brothers for almost twenty years. How could you even think that I wouldn’t care?”

 

“I know you care about me and that you always have. It wasn’t a matter of thinking you wouldn’t care, it was that I didn’t think it mattered,” Dom replied.

 

“Honestly, Dom, how could I not know things like that about you? I mean you just said both in here and in the kitchen that you always felt average and not particularly important. Did I ever treat you that way?”

 

“No, not at all,” Dom said.

 

“I only ever looked at you and saw you as my bro but I also never saw anyone look at you or treat you as less than you were and are. Shit Dom, where did all these attitudes come from?”

 

“The mirror, mainly,” he replied and Zac’s eyes revealed actual shock before Dom continued, “Don’t look at me like that, Zac, I was never handsome and I’m never going to be.”

 

For probably the first time in nearly twenty years, Zac actually looked at Dom’s face as something other than belonging to the man he adored and loved like a brother. His looks had never meant anything, never been of consequence. He knew what Dom was saying but he did not find him unattractive.

 

“Dom, you’re not ugly, if that’s what you think.”

 

Dom grinned while not taking any offence. “I know I’m not ugly, Zac, I’m just not handsome, either.”

 

“Looks aren’t everything, Dom.”

 

“Easy for someone to say when they’re as hot as you and look like you do,” Dom said sincerely and followed it with an unperturbed smile.

 

“No, I didn’t mean it like…”

 

Dom interrupted, “Zac, it’s fine. I know what you meant but I’m fine. In fact, I’m better than I’ve ever been, now,” he said.

 

Zac stared at Dom for a brief time, watching as Dom stared down at his feet. This insecurity or whatever it was that Dom had been hanging onto for years, it was something Zac had never known or considered. He did not want to let the issue drop but Dom had concluded his last statement with a tone of such finality, Zac knew he should let it go. He also knew Dom had something he wanted to tell him and his last word seemed to be referring to that.

 

“Well, I guess we’ve just circumnavigated back to where we began, which is where you want us to be, so tell me about that earth moving day and then tell me about him. What’s his name?”

 

“His name is Samuel,” Dom said with a blatant smirk.

 

Zac’s eyes showed amusement when he realised why Dom was grinning.

 

“Yeah, Dom, I get it. When we were kids, I used to always say we were special because we could break our names down to three letters and now you’ve met another one who can. All we need now is for me to meet a guy named Kenneth and that will be the end of us all.”

 

“I don’t think it’s quite that dramatic but I couldn’t help but think of you when I found out. So do you want to hear the whole story?”

 

“Absolutely, Dom. If you’ve met yourself a man then of course I want to hear about it,” Zac said.

 

“Well, what I was alluding to earlier when I said I never expected special to happen to me, was that I pretty much looked at life through beige eyes, metaphorically speaking. I mean sure I could see beauty and all that jazz but that perspective was in reference to looking at nature or a hot man. Everything else, it was just, well, beige.”

 

“Yeah, I get it,” Zac said.

 

“Right. It never really bothered me but then over the last year, the belief started to weigh on me. I mean, the idea that spectacular would never touch me specifically, that a really hot, gorgeous guy would never be naked in my bed and that all-in-all, my days and nights, my work and home, whatever it was, it was always going to be beige,” Dom said.

 

“Dom, you have had a really hot and gorgeous guy in your bed,” Zac said followed by a smug grin.

 

Dom rolled his eyes but ignored the remark and immediately continued with what he had been saying.

 

“I began to hear how my inner voice was always negative. I also noticed how my inner self was becoming dark and pessimistic, all while the weight of it pressed on me. Rather than doing anything constructive about it though, instead I dismissed it and locked it away in the deep recesses of my mind,” Dom explained.

 

Zac asked, “Did you really believe that would work?”

 

“Some people lock shit away for lifetimes, Zac.”

 

“Yeah, I guess that’s true but lots of people have their shit break free and come back to bite them on the arse.”

 

“Yeah, that’s very true but in a way I think I was one of the extraordinarily lucky ones,” Dom said.

 

“How so?”

 

“Well, two years ago I met this new friend. It’s a woman, transgender, post-op actually, which of course doesn’t matter in the slightest and didn’t require mentioning but regardless…”

 

Zac interrupted, “What’s her name?”

 

“Shay.”

 

“How did you meet her?”

 

“We struck up a casual conversation on the beach one day,” Dom said.

 

“How old is she?”

 

“Thirty-nine,” Dom replied.

 

“Right.”

 

Dom asked, chuckling sarcastically, “What’s with all the questions? You’re not looking for a post-op wife are you? You haven’t changed that much in the three years you’ve been gone, have you?”

 

“No, Dom, it’s just a coincidence because I became friends with someone like Shay in San Francisco but she was thirty-five,” Zac explained.

 

“You’ll have to tell me about her later but I want to finish telling you what happened.”

 

“Sure, sorry I interrupted,” Zac said.

 

“No worries. So, the point was, Shay and I became friends. I was spending a lot of time at her house. We’d watch movies or I’d go over for dinner or we’d just kick back after coming home from a coffee shop or somewhere. Anyway, we didn’t have any common friends and so it was just a random friendship that was sincere and good for both of us. Shay’s great and so it was easy to pass time with her or share conversations and perspectives. I never expected anything from going to her place, other than a quiet and easy time.”

 

Zac interrupted, “Shit, you’re not about to tell me…”

 

“No, of course I’m not. I’m gay and you know it, you dick,” Dom interjected.

 

“Excuse me for thinking outside the box,” Zac said.

 

“Zac, you know that’s a box I would never enter. Women are great to spend time with and talk to but for me, friendship is the limit where they’re concerned.”

 

“Okay, okay, attitude reinforcement complete,” Zac said.

 

“Shay and I became really good friends and then one Saturday morning, late morning because you know what I’m like with getting out of bed on any given day?”

 

“Like waking a bear from hibernation,” Zac said.

 

“I’m not that bad but anyway, I went over to her house and we were just chatting away when there was a knock on her door. I excused myself to use the toilet while she went to see who was there and when I came out, Shay was in her kitchen making coffees.

 

“So as I was walking into the living room from one side of the apartment, another guy was walking in from the other side. When I said earlier that a collision occurred, I didn’t mean a physical collision. Honestly, it was more like an ethereal collision. We were two metres apart but we hit each other like speeding cars into brick walls.

 

“I swear to God, Zac, it was disabling. I couldn’t speak, I could barely move and I stood there like a deaf mute and staring at him with no way to communicate. I wanted to communicate more than anything but the man I was, well, he was gone, shuffled off this mortal coil, taken a sabbatical, evaporated into a mist…”

 

“Yeah, yeah, I get it, Dom, I get it. You were fucked and could barely move or speak,” Zac interrupted, rolling his eyes at Dom’s around the world approach.

 

“Exactly,” Dom replied.

 

“So what happened?”

 

“Well, we all sat down to drink our coffees and chat. Shay has these huge cushions against the wall where most people would have a lounge suite and so we were just lounging, fundamentally on the floor, with me in between them.

 

“Shay had known Sam for years but she hadn’t seen him in forever. He dropped in purely by chance, not even knowing if she would be home,” Dom recalled.

 

“Dom, you said Shay was thirty-nine and she had known Sam for years so, how old is he?”

 

“Thirty-seven,” Dom replied.

 

“So now you’re into a more mature type of man?”

 

“I guess so but irrespective, they were just catching up, talking about old acquaintances and old times and I was sitting there listening, my head turning back and forth like I was watching a tennis match.

 

“Shay was doing most of the talking, which she often does and Sam was answering and occasionally throwing in an odd remark here and there. I, on the other hand, was still discovering the notion that words could come out of my mouth, if only I could engage my brain. Unfortunately, I’ll be fucked if at the time I could remember how.”

 

“Jesus, Dom, I see that side of you has never changed. You’re still as long-winded as ever. This is like a cliff-hanger, can you get to the point and hurry up about it?”

 

“Well, after an hour, Shay left the room to find an old photo. By that point I had moved off the cushions and was sitting in front of Sam on the floor. I know we were talking but to this day neither of us can remember about what. Anyway, unexpectedly he sat forward on the cushions toward my position, held out his hand palm down and asked me to show him my hand. Any other time I would have thought that was weird but because I was lost in his eyes, instead, obliviously I lifted my hand, palm up and he took mine into his. He looked at me and smiled like he had bested me and then he began to sit back while holding tightly to my hand. He was pulling me toward him and if I didn’t want to end up flat on my face, I had to crawl forward and sit on the cushions beside him again.”

 

“No shit?”

 

“No shit,” Dom said while grinning almost nostalgically.

 

Zac asked impatiently, “What happened next?”

 

Shay came back into the room, saw us holding hands but being Shay she just smiled and said nothing. We were barely speaking at all and Sam and I just kept looking at each other. Twenty minutes later Sam asked me if I would like to go out for coffee and five minutes following that question, we were saying goodbye to Shay. Jesus, it makes my stomach nervous when I think about it. Not bad nervous, good nervous, you know.”

 

“I understand. How long ago was that?”

 

“Three months. It was the first day of spring. The next day was raining but in the afternoon we went for a drive to the beach. The rain stopped and the weather began to clear. We got out of the car and went for a walk on the little beach. As we were walking across the sand this great gap formed in the clouds and there behind it was a rainbow from one side to the other. For a moment, just before the rainbow disappeared, the sun slid from behind a cloud like it was at the end of the rainbow. It was magnificent.

 

“Sam turned and looked at me with his beautiful smile. It was the last thing I would have thought but if I had been the type to desire a single life, at that moment on the end of that smile, all hope of freedom would have been lost. He pulled me into his arms against his muscled body and he kissed me. The entire rainbow vanished but it no longer mattered. Sam had come into my world and turned the beige into vivid colours,” Dom completed.

 

“Shit, Dom, that’s incredible and I’m really happy for you,” Zac said.

 

“Either it’s incredible or it’s coincidence,” Dom replied.

 

“You don’t really believe that, do you?”

 

“No. Well, I mean I don’t but for a while I did wonder if I was letting my rationality go out the figurative window. The thing is, Zac, how could I believe it was coincidence? I know lots of people would but I told you, I didn’t believe the spectacular would ever touch me. Well, it did touch me, even if it was just coincidence or whatever people want to call it. These days I try to see every bit of spectacular but I’ve learned that spectacular is not necessarily a size.”

 

Zac asked, “What do you mean?”

 

“Kind words that are sincere in a simple e-mail from a stranger. A bright orange ladybird beetle, sitting on a rain-soaked leaf at eye level, right outside my door. A king parrot hanging upside down from a branch, as I reach up to feed it sunflower seeds. Zac, it doesn’t matter what it is and it’s not individual specific, gender specific or anything specific.

 

“From Sam holding me and kissing me, from that rainbow and the sun or even simply a stranger taking my hand at the right moment, spectacular is absolutely everywhere. We just have to learn to see it and acknowledge it. In fact, I’ve seen spectacular twice more today,” Dom clarified.

 

Zac asked, “Like what?”

 

“Seeing my best friends face after three years and secondly, knowing he still loves and cares about me,” Dom said.

 

“Holy shit, I was right but I was also very wrong,” Zac said enigmatically.

 

Dom asked, “What do you mean?”

 

“About you. I was right in that you’ve changed but I was wrong in that I thought it was a bad thing. It isn’t bad at all and in fact, somewhere along this path, beginning on the first day of spring, you gained wisdom and I like it, Dom.”

 

“Thanks, mate,” Dom replied sincerely.

 

“So tell me, Dom, what’s Sam look like and when do I get to meet him?”

 

“He’s handsome but also cute. He has a body to die for, jet-black hair that gleams above metallic, light blue eyes that hypnotise me. His skin is caramel chocolate and he drives me nuts when he touches me. When I look at him, any part of him, at any given moment, he makes my heart melt.”

 

“Holy shit, my best friend is lost and never to be found again,” Zac said sarcastically.

 

Dom grinned agreeably. “He’s our height with the body of an AFL midfielder and he’s also strong.”

 

“I suppose he has no negative traits,” Zac said with a roll of his eyes.

 

“Oh no, Zac, he does have one fault.”

 

Zac asked, “And what would that be?”

 

“Well, like you, he thinks he smarter than me,” Dom said and seconds later they were wrestling on the floor again.

 

Once they were back in their respective seats, Zac looked at Dom and returned him to the unanswered part of the question.

 

“So, when do I get to meet this god of the natural world?”

 

“I’m not sure I should contaminate the air he breathes by allowing you into his space. He is a god of perfection after all, Dom said.

 

“Oh, God help us all,” Zac said with emphasised animation, his eyes looking perplexed and his arms thrown into the air with all the overly dramatic acting he could call on.

 

“Get over it, Zac. I’m in love. Don’t you get it? The average man has been swept off his feet by the spectacular. Allow me to drown in my new world, a world that you’ve enjoyed all your life.”

 

“On one condition, Dom.”

 

“What’s that?”

 

“That you realise it’s not Sam or me but it’s you who is spectacular and also, special as well,” Zac said.

 

Dom’s smile lit up his face. “He’ll be here in thirty minutes,” he said and then he lifted off his seat, pulled Zac up and into his arms and hugged him with a true display of all his love and respect for his friend.

 

Zac was smiling as his chin rested on Dom’s shoulder and his arms squeezed warmly around his body. He had missed Dom so much and he was so glad to be home. Additionally, despite the changes, Dom was still his bro and his greatest friend and he was looking forward to many more days like this one.

 

“Okay, Dom, I think that’s enough of my body against you for now. Stop feeling me up and let me go before you want me naked in your bed. I don’t want Sam to be left disappointed from your obvious and natural choice,” Zac joked.

 

Dom pulled away and looked at Zac in disbelief before he said, “Get over yourself. I was fourteen when I got rid of you and I never make stupid mistakes twice.”

 

“Right, you keep deluding yourself, Dom, we both know you’ll never get over me and that for the rest of your life with an inadequate Sam, you’ll always be wishing you had my naked body instead,” Zac quipped.

 

That did it. Dom grabbed Zac by the neck and shoulders and pulled him down. A moment later they were once again wrestling all over the carpet. Only seconds after the wrestle ended but while they were still curled around each other on the floor, Dom said the most unexpected thing.

 

“You know what, Zac?”

 

“What?”

 

“It’s good to know that good things and new lives don’t have to wait for the first day of spring and that they can happen in any season,” Dom said enigmatically.

 

Zac asked, “Why would you say that?”

 

“Because Zac, you, my friend, are here with me again and today is the first day of summer.”

 

Zac hugged Dom again but this time it was a serious and very sincere hug on his part, which was even more emotional than when he had arrived at Dom’s door after three years away.

 

Dom tightened his grip in reply but then asked, “What’s this about?”

 

“I love you, Dom. I know you know that and I also know I’ll always love you, however, even after finding the man of your dreams and falling madly in love and talking like unicorns are a standard form of travel, still you’re capable of thinking about me and saying something like that to me. It makes me know we’ll always be best friends. This may all sound mushy and childlike but you just make me so happy.”

 

“Someone has to feel sorry for you, you insignificant schmuck,” Dom said.

 

“Fuck you,” Zac replied and their wrestling exploded into an all out war filled with laughter and many more jibes.