Chapter Text
What if Pat and the engineering crew also wanted to play "Just Friend?" at the Freshy Day contest?
The engineering crew decides not to cover a song, but to play their own song - only problem is: none of them can really write lyrics and compose.
Pat remembers the situation of the winter concert with Pran and how he and Pran sat together every lunch break at their table under the tree and pondered over the song together.
And then he gets the idea: Why not perform that very song? After all, he co-wrote it, so the song belongs to him too, doesn't it?
Besides, Pat is sure that Pran will triumph with a brand new song. Ever since he gave him back his guitar, he hears guitar sounds coming through Pran's door so often. He is sure that Pran must already have a whole album of great new songs in store.
Pran might even find the whole thing funny... or perhaps appreciate it?
For sure he's happy that Pat can still play the song and still wants to play it after all these years. The song also deserves to be performed completely from the beginning to the end. Pran surely understands that he is borrowing the song to have a fair chance against a musical genius like him.
The engineering crew is excited about the song. Korn takes over lead vocals and as good as he does, Pat realizes how much he misses Pran's voice. Pran, as he always turned to him during rehearsals, as if he needed Pat's reassurance.
When the crew finally masters the song and the contest is just around the corner, Mo passes out a six-pack of beer among them after a rehearsal and into the silence he asks what he's been wondering all along. "You said you co-wrote the song with someone?"
Pat takes a sip of beer and nods dismissively as he puts his sticks away.
"What happened to her?"
"Huh?" Pat looks at him in irritation.
"What happened to the girl you wrote song with? Why did you guys break up?"
Pat is at a loss. What is Mo talking about? "It wasn't a girl, it was a male friend."
"Ohh..." comes in unison from the whole gang.
"And that was the problem?" asks Chang hesitantly, and Pat can tell he's uncomfortable with the question.
Pat is still on the fence. "What kind of problem?"
Chang seems to be struggling, so Korn intervenes. "Why you guys didn't get together. Or why you might have broken up. I imagine a gay relationship in high school is not easy." When Pats doesn't reply anything, Korn adds, "Which is totally okay. I didn't know you were swinging both ways, but totally fine with me by the way."
"Yeah totally," Mo calls in and Chang nods significantly.
Now Pat has to grin. "Thanks for your support, good to know. But honestly, I don't know what you guys are talking about, there was never anything going on between me and my friend."
"No way!" exclaims Korn.
And Mo also shakes his head. "You're kidding us, right?"
Pat is still smirking, but can't suppress a snort. "We were never together, nor were we in love with each other. We were just friends."
That earns him a collective loud laugh, Chang even having to hold his stomach while Korn wipes his eyes.
"What?" By now Pat is annoyed, his friends seem to be reading a lot more into the whole thing than there was.
Korn is the first to get himself back in check and grabs him by the shoulder. "Did you just listen to yourself? You call him ‘just friend' exactly like in the song? The song that's about someone trying to figure out if their buddy is also in love with them."
By now, the other two have also stopped laughing, and a frown appears on Mo's face. "Bro, that guy sure had a tough time with you." He shakes his head. "Writes you an extra song about his crush on you and you just don't get it."
Pat can't believe what he's hearing. "That can't be. Pr- I mean my friend found me annoying. There were even times when we just fought.”
"Enemies to Lovers, dude. Come on, it's not the most popular theme in fiction for nothing." Chang's eyes suddenly get shiny. "The tension between the two opponents, the heated atmosphere, the thoughts revolving around each other all the time and suddenly you realize that the other one doesn't even suck and their feelings change."
"Bro! What the fuck? Where did you get that from?" snorts Mo.
"If you'd just pick up a book for once too..."
But Pat isn't listening anymore. His mind is whirling so wild, he almost feels dizzy.
Could this really be? Had Pran really written the song for him? It just couldn't be. How could he have missed something so important, something so life-changing? No way, Pran had to have been thinking of someone else. But who? Had Pran had a crush on someone in their class back then? Pat hadn't noticed anything. No, absolutely not. Probably the lyrics were not directed at anyone in particular but were just written in general.
But as if his own consciousness clearly wanted to contradict him, a certain afternoon popped up in front of his inner eye.
I'd like to compose something that conveys the sense of 'born to be together'. Like... growing up together, seeing each other every day. Nothing happens at the beginning but without realizing it, their feelings...
… and their feelings changed.
He suddenly heard his own voice from back then and Chang's from a few seconds ago.
Suddenly all the blood seems to drain from Pat's body and he feels his knees go weak. He sways a bit, feeling like an balloon that has been suddenly released and floats away aimlessly into the sky.
"You all right, man?" Korn's face suddenly appears in front of him, and when he grabs Pat's shoulder again, it helps him not quite drift away. "You look really pale. Did we give you a shock with our chatter? Don't take it too seriously, we weren't there and can't judge your friend and the situation at all. You yourself will know best whether there was something going on or not."
But that is exactly the problem. Pat is suddenly no longer sure about anything.