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It all started with Phil jotting down his extraterrestrial theories on the back of his math notebook. He was completely absorbed in it, drawing arrows, circles, and scribbling words whose meaning only he understood.
He carefully analyzed how he would soon discover who the extraterrestrials infiltrated among them were. He even seriously suspected that the Patty-girls weren’t human, but perfectly camouflaged creatures, ready to kill them all the moment someone let their guard down.
Which, at that moment, seemed to him like a possible, rational, and even logical conclusion.
But his apparent calm was interrupted by something. More specifically, by someone…
The brown-haired boy tensed his shoulders, already anticipating what was coming, without even having to lift his gaze from the graph-paper pages.
It was Teddy. His best —and only— friend in the world. The very same one he had been avoiding for days as if he were the Black Plague at its peak.
There hadn’t been any fight, no harsh words, much less some stupid reason that had driven them apart. Nothing that made sense from the outside. It was simply… something Phil didn’t want to name, much less clearly label, because, of course, it was embarrassing to feel that way about the “wrong” person.
Because at some point, the discreet glances —far too obvious to be called that— toward Teddy stopped being a way to escape his thoughts. Instead, like a snowball, they kept growing until they became a massive avalanche about to destroy everything he knew.
It wasn’t deep admiration for his friend and the way he endured his parents’ degrading comparisons to his “perfect” older brother.
It wasn’t companionship forged over time and good deeds.
And it definitely wasn’t just friendship, even if he had no other to compare it to.
Phil shut the notebook as fast as he could, with more force than necessary.
He knew what it meant to feel that way in a town as small as Derry, where other people’s secrets are daily bread and everyone quickly finds out. He also knew what happened to those who were different from what suffocating 1962 society established.
And he wasn’t ready to lose the Jewish boy. Much less to be completely alone, because he doubted he could endure it again after understanding what life was like with a true friend by his side.
That’s why he ran toward the nearest bush, praying that Teddy hadn’t seen him hide and wouldn’t come over to talk. The leaves and tangled branches were his shield against his problems, though they hurt him more than he realized —his forearms were covered in light scratches.
The problem was that he couldn’t see whether Teddy had already gone inside the school, because the branches blocked his view and the bush was too thick to make a hole. So, carefully, he climbed a nearby tree, from where he could see when it would be safe to come down.
He sat on one of the thickest branches and peeked his head out to check. Teddy was halfway to the school entrance, distracted by his own thoughts. He dragged his feet slightly, without much energy, staring at the ground as if it were the most interesting thing in the universe.
When Phil thought it was the ideal moment to climb down, he almost did —but instead found himself admiring his good friend’s physique.
He stopped to look at the dark blond color of his hair, accentuated by the small waves at the ends. And he got lost in his bright green eyes, so similar to precious emeralds.
Even the serious expression he usually wore had its own special touch, and that was why Phil looked at him so much. That serious look wasn’t hardness; Phil had always thought it was the way Teddy defended himself from the world, as if he tensed his face before anyone else could do it for him.
He had even started smiling like an idiot. And he felt a far too pleasant warmth spread across his face. Well, we all know what that means.
But when Phil pulled himself together, he hated himself for looking at him like that. For feeling that while secretly admiring him. In a tree, meters away from the torture called school. In a town that hides and punishes anyone who doesn’t fit its imposed expectations.
Teddy lifted his head slightly, and Phil had the absurd thought that he’d been discovered. As if it were possible that he had suddenly developed mind-reading abilities —as if he were some thirty-year-old virgin. The glances, the fleeting thoughts, those sleepless nights imagining entire conversations that would surely never come true.
He started to feel his heart pounding like crazy. He tried to calm it, pressing his hands over his chest, but the beats only intensified until it felt like his heart was bursting out.
This time, it’s not a metaphor to make it sound prettier or more poetic while I narrate this, nor an exaggeration on Phil’s part —his heart really did come out of his chest.
Not in a grotesque way, with lots of blood and a gaping hole ending in instant death. But it didn’t look like something straight out of the comic-book universes he loved to read either. “Too strange” would be the perfect words to describe the event.
He could hear the beats —not steady or slow, but frantic. They perfectly displayed the tension of the moment, as his emotions slowly lost balance and overflowed, like a river held back too long before breaking its dam.
The heart thumped so hard it hurt, just to confirm its existence. Not another desperate metaphor. Too real to be one.
«The aliens are controlling that weird thing that came out of my chest and they’re here in Derry, magnificent. I knew something bad was happening at the air base —so many planes had never arrived before» Phil thought, already attributing everything to creatures from galaxies far, far away, unable to see any other possibility.
The organ began to fly like just another bird belonging to the blue sky. The brown-haired boy grabbed it midair, trying to keep it from flying somewhere others could see it, but it was much stronger than it looked, forcing itself free from his grip.
It flew straight toward Teddy, robotically —as if someone from a distance were ordering it to do so. Which is why Phil jumped from the tree to the ground —nearly breaking a bone in the process— to stop the heart, which was getting closer and closer to its target.
He watched as it approached dangerously close to him. And the worst part was that Teddy didn’t notice its presence. He couldn’t understand how he couldn’t see something so strange.
Teddy paused for a second before going inside, as if gathering strength. He ran his fingers along the sleeve of his red sweater, tugging at it unnecessarily. He always did that when he felt uncomfortable.
The heart gave a sharp pull when the Jewish boy stopped in front of the entrance, as if it had recognized the gesture even before Phil had.
After that, Teddy went into the school, still unaware of the situation. The beating organ followed at a short distance.
Phil ran too —but this time in the opposite direction: straight toward where Uris had entered.
He burst through the door and reached the hallways that so often felt endless and served as the main stage for the mockery he regularly received for being socially marginalized.
Then the voices came. Much more unbearable than usual.
At first, they were just background murmurs that could be confused with a group of friends chatting normally. They had no concrete shape or strength.
Then they changed, becoming as dangerous as knives. Small, low laughs cut through constant whispers that kept accumulating in the air.
They didn’t come from a group of popular kids or terrible bullies who harassed him. They sprouted from the now suffocating air, from the lockers, from the floor, and even… from inside his own head.
Slowly the whispers took form; now clearer words could be understood. “That Malkin has always been weird, but today he’s worse than ever,” the voices said. He also heard some indiscreet teachers contributing to the mockery.
As far as he was concerned, he was acting completely normal by his low standards —though that normality was abnormal to most. But he was growing more and more desperate.
All of it vanished when he found Teddy pulling out his notebooks for class. It felt like he had just woken up from a terrible nightmare. He didn’t see the heart anywhere nearby and felt much more relieved.
“Theo!” he exclaimed, breathless from running.
“Phil?” the Jewish boy replied, confused as to why he was suddenly speaking to him after days of avoidance.
“I know this sounds really bad but… did you see a flying heart? The aliens have already arrived in Derry. This time it’s not a false alarm like when I confused them with the probably-alien neighbor across the street.”
“No. Are you okay? Are you sure you didn’t hit your head on the way to school? Your conspiracies are way more exaggerated than usual.”
“I swear it’s true! I swear it on all my comics!”
Teddy raised an eyebrow. His expression was calm, but he still didn’t seem to believe much of what Phil was saying —even after he swore on all his precious comics.
“Look, it’s hard to believe you. But give me proof and I’ll tell you my opinion, like last time. Sound fair?”
“I’ll show you where it appeared, come outside with me and—” he was cut off mid-sentence.
Someone ran past and “accidentally” shoved Teddy. Phil instinctively grabbed his sweater —he didn’t want him to fall. But he lost his balance and the two of them ended up on the floor. And to top it off, one on top of the other.
All the books fell, but that didn’t matter anymore.
Phil wasn’t breathing properly. He was inches away. He could feel the soft warmth of his body. He noticed his eyelashes —strangely long for a boy, though they added a certain touch. And how his cheeks were gaining color.
He forgot it was the wrong era to feel that way. He forgot they were in plain sight. That rumors spread like wildfire in schools, especially among gossiping teenagers.
But that moment, which seemed almost perfect for our protagonists, was about to be interrupted.
“Everyone, look at that! Malkin and the Jew are fags!” someone shouted, pointing at where they had fallen over each other.
The voice exploded like a Soviet nuclear bomb in the hallway. But Bert the Turtle’s advice —duck and cover— didn’t save him from public humiliation and multiple heads turning to stare directly at him.
Phil stood up quickly after those words. A pink blush colored his cheeks. His arms were crossed, but one foot moved frantically.
Teddy just sat there, his usual rigid posture. He looked at the floor, avoiding eye contact with everyone, especially his friend.
And well… the alien enthusiast ran off. He couldn’t take the public humiliation anymore. His social life —already 100% nonexistent— depended on his maximum running speed and his ability to forget incidents.
He felt his heart slowly dying, as if it had been split into two halves. That thing had disappeared, but it had taken his real heart with it. He desperately wanted to cry, but he held it in. He didn’t want to be called a crybaby on top of everything else.
He left the building, trying to ignore the looks of disgust he received in the hallways. He grabbed his bike and started pedaling like crazy to anywhere no one would look at him wrong. Without looking back.
The streets were empty; most adults had already arrived at work. A few drunk men were fighting while others bet on their favorite on a quiet corner.
Apparently, he wasn’t the only one who left that suffocating place. Teddy followed close behind, trying to catch up. But his smaller frame wasn’t much match for Phil’s long legs.
“Malkin, please stop pedaling and let me talk!” Teddy shouted. But his efforts were in vain.
They continued that cat-and-mouse chase, though the roles were reversed. Since when did the rodent start chasing the feline?
When Phil finally stopped, he was in front of his secret hideout. His chaotic mind had led him somewhere safe, because only Teddy, Matty, and he knew that his guardians left it unlocked. Well, not anymore, now that one of them had followed him at full speed.
He climbed to the very top, panting slightly from the effort. From up there, the town looked peaceful, normal, even pleasant to live in. With decent neighbors and a government that cared about its citizens. In reality, it had none of those traits.
He sat on the dirty floor; his legs could no longer bear the weight of humiliation. He looked around —making sure no one was there to judge him. Only Coca-Cola bottles and superhero comics lay scattered around.
When he finally felt safe, he unraveled inside his own mind, staying far too quiet for someone like him. But without letting tears fall.
«I’m an idiot and I’m dead,” he thought, burying his face in his hands from the shame. “They saw us about to… Ugh, that doesn’t matter now. Tedds must hate me and won’t be my best friend anymore. Not even the aliens would want to experiment on me. How pathetic you are, Philip Malkin».
As he sank deeper into his thoughts and misery, Teddy reached him.
It took him a while to speak. He looked at the cloudy sky, as if the perfect answer might appear between the clouds.
Eventually he seemed to understand what he wanted to say. He sat beside him, leaving a small space between them, as if unsure he had the right to occupy it.
“When you started avoiding me…” he began at last, not looking at him, “I thought I had done something wrong.”
Phil opened his mouth to respond, but no sound came out.
Teddy continued before he could try again.
“I went over everything. What I said, what I didn’t say but felt. Every stupid conversation about aliens or X-Men comics.” He took a breath, as if summoning courage. “I felt ridiculous for… missing your company so much.”
He sighed, as if a huge weight had been lifted.
“I drove myself crazy thinking about why. And after thinking so much… I think I understood a part of myself I never wanted to face.”
Phil couldn’t process the words; his brain felt like mush.
This time Teddy looked at him —not directly into his pretty blue eyes, but somewhere near his heart, as if afraid that if he did, he wouldn’t be able to control himself.
He moved closer. When they were inches apart and he could feel his warm breath, they unfortunately didn’t kiss. It wasn’t the right moment for that. But it was the right moment to say this:
“You matter to me, Phil. Much more than what’s considered ‘normal’ for just friends. And that… scares me,” he confessed, his voice dropping to a whisper.
Malkin swallowed. His heart began pounding again, as if recognizing every word before he did.
—Si lo que sientes te asusta —continuó Teddy, ahora más alto—, creo que es porque realmente importa. Las cosas que no importan no te hacen huir. Ni perseguir a alguien por medio Derry.
El viento pasó entre ellos, alborotando suavemente su cabello. Él regresó a su posición original, apoyando la mano en el suelo, tan cerca que sus dedos casi rozaron los de Phil.
—No estás sola en esto. Quiero que lo sepas —añadió en voz baja.
Nadie dijo nada más. Fue más que suficiente.
Y esta vez nadie huyó para salvar su vida en bicicleta.
Sus dedos se movieron primero, con cautela, como pidiendo permiso. Cuando sus manos se encontraron, no hubo fuegos artificiales ni explosiones. Solo calor. Un contacto firme y real. Teddy entrelazó sus dedos con los de Phil sin mirarlo todavía, como si ambos supieran que ese pequeño gesto decía más que mil palabras.
Puede que no hubiera habido una confesión directa, ni siquiera un "me gustas" de ninguno de los dos. Pero para ellos, fue más que suficiente.
Sus corazones se hicieron uno.
Latiendo rítmicamente. A pesar de estar en cuerpos diferentes.
El final ♡