DOGFISH, miyuki kazuya

if they don't waste time looking for an easier world, they can do it

And look! look! look! I think those little fish
better wake up and dash themselves away
from the hopeless future that is
bulging toward them.

And probably,
if they don't waste time
looking for an easier world,

they can do it.

━━━━━━

The twenty-fourth of December is spent poolside.

Your sister and Hector are gone, spending the rest of the year in Europe. They'd asked you to come but you didn't want to leave Kazuya alone like that. He says he's used to spending this time of the year alone — he hasn't been back to Japan since before his second season with the Braves — but just because he's used to it doesn't mean you're fine leaving him alone like that.

You don't do anything special — he doesn't celebrate — but just spend time together. Watch some Say Yes to the Dress and some House. Do a few puzzles together. Have him quiz you on your baseball knowledge. Read comics. You brought Volume 1 of your No Man's Land omnibus collection for him, since, like he said, he was 'intrigued.'

"Just intrigued, tomcat," he had stressed to you, upon seeing you beam. "I'm not turning into you. DC is way too complicated for me."

"I thought you liked challenges?"

"Fun challenges that make me use my brain. Looking at reading guides just makes me want to pull my hair out."

"Boo."

But you get it. It really is not for everyone. Most of the time, you just kind of have to go into it without a second thought. Find a reading guide for a character you like and start there. Confusion is just second nature to this stuff. He's not like that. He needs all the pieces of the puzzle.

On the twenty-third, which is when you go over to his apartment, you two just hang out. You'll be spending the night until the twenty-sixth. Since you feed Batman and Robin (your pets, not the characters) twice a day, you have an automatic feeder for them for the few days you'll be gone, that way he doesn't have to drive you back and forth between East Village and Normal Heights.

It is also the first time you are spending the night at his apartment and you try to be really normal about all of it.

You occupy yourself with studying every detail of it. A fourteen hundred square foot apartment on the twenty-third floor, one bedroom, one and a half bath, with an modern open floor plan, floor to ceiling windows in the living room and bedroom, and a balcony that gives you literal next-door views of Petco Park (like seriously, it's probably about ten blocks away).

The whole one bedroom thing would have created a problem if you hadn't initially said this would be a sleepover. By definition, that means sleeping together. In the same room. But not the same bed. No.

You could, maybe, but that would be too much. He'd quickly taken over and said he had futons you two could use in the living room. A much better alternative. Though, admittedly, having to sleep separated by only a few feet is... a little more painful. But them's the breaks! Can't do anything about it. Nope.

Anyway... on the twenty-fourth, the two of you sleep in, seeing no use in getting up early since you guys aren't doing anything.

You spend the first part of the day lazing around, then you head upstairs. To the very luxurious indoor pool all tenants are allowed to use. Except...

"I didn't want to be that person, but I asked them about closing it off from anyone else, that way it's just us."

"You can do that?" you ask, lifting your eyes from the shiny marble floor of the elevator.