Summer on the outskirts of Buenos Aires brought with it a stifling heat and a sense of freedom only experienced on vacation. Fernando, like every year, had invited his group of friends to spend a few weeks at his country house. The plan was simple: sunny days, cold beers, and nights of endless conversation. But this year, something was different. Unlike other times, Fernando had brought Germán, his taekwondo partner. No one in the group knew him well, and although some were initially wary, he soon integrated with laughter and jokes.
From the first day, Fernando noticed that Germán’s presence unsettled him in a way he didn’t fully understand. They had trained together for months; they knew each other through hand-to-hand combat, through the tension of each blow, through the synchronization of their movements. But there, in that carefree atmosphere, Germán seemed like a different person. He smiled with a naturalness Fernando hadn’t seen before, and his eyes shone in a different way when he laughed with the others.The days passed with swims in the pool, games, and conversations under the sun. But when they were alone together, there was a silence laden with meaning. Sometimes, after an impromptu training session on the grass, Fernando felt that the touch of their skin lasted longer than necessary, that their gazes held too long. On one such afternoon, after a particularly intense practice, they both lay on the ground, breathing heavily. “You’re good at this,” Germán said with a crooked smile. “So are you,” Fernando replied, but his voice sounded different.
That night, after everyone had gone to sleep, Fernando went out onto the terrace to get some fresh air. He wasn’t surprised to find Germán there, leaning against the railing, gazing at the distant lights of the town. They sat in silence for a few minutes until Germán, without taking his eyes off the horizon, murmured, “Why did you bring me here?” The question took Fernando by surprise. He stammered an answer, but Germán interrupted him with a gentle smile. “You don’t have to say it. Just tell me if you feel it too.”Fernando felt the air thicken around him. There was no simple answer, but he didn’t need one either. He moved closer slowly, his heart pounding, and when their lips finally met, everything he’d felt those weeks, those months, became clear. The kiss was slow, uncertain, as if both feared the moment would unravel if they rushed it. But when they broke apart, neither wanted to back down.
The rest of the summer passed between shared secrets and silent gestures that only they understood. They didn’t talk much about what would happen next, about how they would fit into a world that had never given them easy answers. But for now, under the starry sky and the distant sound of cicadas, all that mattered was that they were together. And that, at least for that moment, was enough.
