Remember, Everything Will Be Alright

IX

26 August 2019

"Daniel!" Dominic squealed at the top of his lungs. He was so loud that the people working outside of their room turned their heads to see what the racket was about.

"Dom," Dan said as he placed his belongings—a reusable water bottle and his cross-body bag—on the seat of his desk chair. Working with Dominic was what Dan needed to get his life back on track, he and Phil both agreed. The day before marked his ninth day in bed. Of eating only what Phil had prepared for him. Of taking less than eight hundred steps. Of bleeding. Of spending at least an hour or more deciding whether or not to take a shower. Dan was sure that if his veins weren't still clouded with prenatal estrogen and progesterone he would have definitely been able to grow a beard with how little he cared to groom himself. That last Monday in August had been the first time in over a week that Dan had left the house, and he was excited to start reintegrating into the world. But goddamn! It was only eight o'clock, and Dominic's voice sounded like the screech of high-velocity tires against the road.

Dominic removed his headphones as he stood and ran across the room to meet Dan. "You have no idea how lonely this office has been without you," he said as he pulled Dan into a deep embrace.

"I've missed you, too," Dan said.

Dominic had only ever hugged Dan that thoroughly twice before. Limited experience aside, he could tell that something was different. He had never heard Dan's voice so soft; never felt it resonate so deeply in Dan's chest. Is this how he naturally talks? It was almost as if Dan was too tired to keep up his every day, hunky-dory persona, and he was being totally authentic.

"How've you gotten on without me?" Dan asked, releasing Dominic.

"Alright, man. I've done some writing and some brainstorming. Sent some emails." Dominic wandered back to his desk.

Dan nodded, eyes scanning the room. "I see you've done some redecorating."

"Yup! Do you like it?" Dominic asked.

The EEN gave Dominic and Daniel their own studio space for their project that had been officially named "The Dom and Dan Show," while Dan was away. Dan wondered what happened to Dominic's, "Black Hearts Club," but he couldn't muster enough bother to ask about it. The last time he was in their studio, Dan had claimed the desk along the Eastern wall while Dominic took the one in the West. In the centre of the room, their camera and lighting equipment had been set up to face the Southern wall. The room's door remained on the Northern wall. Since coming back, Dan found that Dominic had moved his desk to the corner adjacent to his. He liked that they would no longer be back to back. Dominic had formed a set in the South-Eastern corner out of two, structured bean bag chairs (one black and the other pink), a low-standing coffee table where their microphones rested, and a string of iridescent garland that hung between the two seats on the wall.

"It's..." Dan started, letting the change disorient him. "We'll definitely get some flattering camera angles with the furniture being this low to the ground."

"You hate it," Dominic said as he took a seat at his desk. "Great."

"I don't hate it."

"It's fine. What we have is a start. Angelika, the set designer, will swing by later. She'll definitely help us out."

"Did you do anything else?"

Dominic turned to Dan, staring at him with a smile through pursed lips. "Like I said, I started brainstorming and emailing people."

"Emailing whom?" Dan asked.

"People."

"You haven't done shit, have you?" Dan forced a laugh to let Dominic know that he wasn't upset with him. That day, his capacity for complaint didn't extend to Dominic.