Prem wanted him back.

Actually, Prem never wanted to lose Boun in the first place.

Prem always thought back to that night and what went wrong between them. Prem had been upset that Boun wasn't supportive of him. Sure, Prem understood Boun's jealousy, but he'd expected Boun to be proud of him at least. That's what people who loved each other did, right?

Were they actually in love?

18-year-old Prem, in his final year of high school dating his best friend, would have said yes, absolutely.

19-year-old Prem, freshly heartbroken, would have said maybe not.

Now, 23-year-old Prem, who had spent 4 years aching for the love he once had, wasn't sure about anything anymore. 

Prem knew it wasn't just some high school crush, but was it possible to love someone so much and not spend the rest of your life with them?

The only thing Prem knew for sure was that he regretted walking away from Boun that night. He was young and had apparently watched too many movies where the hero chases after his lost love. But life isn't like the movies and Prem had been living with regret all these years.

Prem also found it quite frustrating that no matter how much he had tried to reach out, Boun never responded. Not even a "hi." Were their years of friendship just meant to fizzle out like that?

"What's with the face?" Prem looked up to see the tall, dark figure of his best friend towering over him. Kao placed one of the drinks in his hand on the table in front of Prem before taking the seat next to him with his own drink. "Don't stress yourself out. You have a show tonight." 

Prem smiled to reassure Kao. "Thanks, Kao. I'm fine." 

Kao raised a leery eyebrow at Prem. "You've been saying that for the past four years, Prem. Are you sure you're really fine?"

"Are you this brutal to Boun?" Prem asked with a laugh.

"Worse, actually," Kao said, matter-of-factly as he took a sip of his drink. 

They both looked up when they heard the door to the little café chime and in walked a tall boy wearing a crisp white t-shirt and jeans. He had his medium length dark hair pulled back into a half-ponytail. Clinging to his elbow was a smaller boy wearing a blue striped shirt with a pen tucked behind his ear, whose brown hair had a reddish tint to it. Prem waved them over to join him and Kao.

"Ohm, Fluke, this is my best friend, Kao, who also owns the venue we're playing at tonight. We've been friends for many, many years. Kao, this is Ohm, my bassist and Fluke, my drummer." Prem pointed to each of the boys in turn, who both shook hands with Kao. 

"It's nice to finally meet you! Prem has told us so much about you!" Fluke said enthusiastically, his bright eyes sparkling. 

"Ohm and Fluke have been together since ... how long has it been guys?"

"Since our first year of touring," the brooding bassist spoke up. "We hated each other at first." 

"I tend to get a little annoying when I get excited," Fluke said, taking the pen out from behind his ear and fidgeting with it. "But I grew on him," he smiled. 

"Yeah, like a parasite," Ohm rolled his eyes, but Prem was all to familiar with the smitten look that always accompanied Ohm's eye roll whenever it was about Fluke. 

"Now we're just waiting on my keyboard player."

"He said he was on his way," Fluke said. "He should be here any minute." 

As if on cue, the café door opened again and a boy sporting a black crop-top and high-waisted jeans walked in like he owned the place. He lifted his large sunglasses off his face to scan the café, placing them atop his head of brown hair. His eyes lit up when he saw the group and he made his way over to the corner. 

"Hey guys!" the boy said, wrapping his arms around Prem's shoulders from the back. "Oh, you must be Kao!" the boy flashed a brilliant smile and Prem could have sworn he heard Kao's breath hitch. "I'm Earth. I play keys for Prem," Earth held his hand out to shake Kao's as he took the seat across from him. 

"Nice-" Kao cleared his throat "-nice to meet you. All of you! I'm glad Prem has had such good friends while he's been away from home." 

Prem caught himself looking around the café once more. 

"I don't think he's coming, Prem," Kao said, softly. "I invited him, but I don't know if he's ready yet."

Prem tried not to look too disappointed and gave a reassuring smile. "I didn't count on it. I was just hoping, you know?" 

Kao patted his shoulder. "It's good to have hope. And who knows? Maybe he'll come to the show tonight. I did give him a free ticket and who can turn down a free show?"

"What's good to drink here?" Earth asked, scanning the menu with his chocolate colored eyes. 

"I got the both of us iced Americanos," Kao said, pointing to his and Prem's drinks. "Their macchiato is really good too and they also have tea."

"Thanks," Earth smiled warmly at Kao. "C'mon, let's grab drinks," he said, pulling on Fluke and Ohm to drag them to the counter, Kao's eyes watching Earth the whole way. 

Prem chuckled. "He's single, you know."

Kao's eyes whipped back to Prem. "W-what? He ... no ... I ... really?" he stuttered, which made Prem laugh. Kao rubbed the back of his neck as his ears turned red. "I ... I tried to be cool about it. He caught me off guard. Do you think he noticed?"

"From the way he was smiling, I'm pretty sure he noticed." 

It was so rare for Prem to see his friend at a loss for words. He thought it was kind of endearing. He never would have guessed his best friend would find an interest in his keyboard player, but now that he thought of it, Prem could see they would be a cute pair. 

"Was I that obvious?" Kao cringed. 

"You couldn't take your eyes off of him." 

Kao groaned to himself, burying his face in his arms on the table and Prem reached over to pat the top of his head. "It's okay. He always gets that reaction from people." Prem put his finger over his mouth as the trio arrived back at the table with their drinks.

"I can imagine why!" Kao's voice came out muffled by his arms. "He's so beautiful, Prem. Earth really took my breath away and I can't explain it."

"Aww, that's sweet of you to say," Earth piped up from behind Kao, grinning ear to ear.

Shocked, Kao stood up so fast that he accidentally knocked Earth's elbow, causing him to drop his iced coffee, spilling it down the front of his shirt before it crashed to the floor with a splosh. 

Prem watched in amusement as his flustered best friend spewed out frantic apologies as he nervously searched around for napkins to help clean Earth up, who couldn't stop laughing. Earth reassured Kao that he was alright but Kao insisted they go to the restroom so Earth could change in to the dry, over-sized sweater Kao was wearing over his t-shirt. 

"They make a cute couple," Fluke giggled as a busser arrived to mop up the spilled coffee. 

Prem smiled. "Yeah, they do. I hope they can figure things out." 

Prem went through the usual motions getting ready for the concert that night: hair, makeup, wardrobe, sound check. Everything went smoothly. The band sounded great, Prem sounded great, the crowd was amazing. But something still felt ... off. Prem loved this, his job, his life performing, his fans that supported him so much, but especially tonight, in his hometown, he felt empty. 

Prem scanned the crowd, smiling at all the hints of green he saw: broccoli hats, broccoli signs, broccoli light sticks, and even whole stalks of broccoli. He crossed his arms, holding the microphone to his mouth. 

"Do you guys know where the whole broccoli thing came from and why my fans are called Broccolis?" he asked the crowd. There were mostly choruses of yes, but he caught a couple questioning glances. "Well, I'm going to tell you because some of you might not know the real story." Prem paced up and down the front of the stage as he talked. "Most of you know it from the line in Familiar Faces that says 'Our first kiss under the broccoli mistletoe.' Well, what most of you don't know is that, while it's a cute image, it's actually inspired by a real event in my life. You see, when I was in high school in this very city, I had a special person in my life. He told me that any couple who kissed under the mistletoe would have a long and lasting love. Well, we didn't have any mistletoe, so a stalk of broccoli had to suffice." 

A collective rumble of laughter rolled through the crowd and Prem smiled at the distant memory. 

"I guess we should have made the effort to find the mistletoe because we didn't make it past high school."

A collective "awww" rolled through the crowd this time but Prem held his hand up. 

"Wait, wait, it's not a completely hopeless story. There are a lot of good things that came out of this. The main thing: this. Me being able to be up here to play for you. He was the one who taught me how to play guitar and encouraged me to do the talent show with him where I was scouted. Without him, I wouldn't be standing here today." 

Prem tried to blink back the tears that threatened to spill over his eyelids. He had never gotten so personal, not even during interviews. Maybe it was the fact that he felt at home here. Maybe he just wanted to be heard. 

"A lot of the songs I've written were inspired by him and the love he gave me, even if it was only for a short time. I've never forgotten him and probably never will."

Prem cleared his throat. "This next song, one you all know very well, was the first song I ever wrote myself and even though he may never hear it, yes, it's about him," Prem chuckled as the crowd "aww'd" again, "and about searching for his Familiar Face in every crowd."

What Prem didn't know was that Boun had been there the entire night, tucked in a corner. The healing tears he had cried with every song rolled down his face, landing on his arm that clutched an album to his chest. Slowly, he made his way through the crowd.

Prem scanned the crowd one last time as the song ended and his breath stopped as his eyes locked on the one familiar face that he had been looking for all these years. 

Finally. Finally, he had heard.