Turn Out The Lights

Drop the ball

The days started passing much easier after the first one. I'd wake up and shower while he did his training, and then we'd switch. Next, we'd cook breakfast and eat together with the minimal conversation we could muster. We'd clean and then spar together until one of us pinned the other down, which normally took until lunch. Afterward, we'd hang out in the living room and do whatever activity I'd brought to keep myself sane. He only brought books to read, so most of the time he'd either watch me or participate in whatever I was doing. Next, we'd cook dinner together, watch a movie until it put me to sleep and then I'd be woken up, carried to bed, or we'd sleep under the kotatsu. On the fifth morning, we started needing things again, like tortillas, a light bulb, and cotton rounds. I woke up first and headed outside to stretch a bit before I showered, and watched as a drone touched down in the grass by the patio. It made a beeping noise and headed back up and off. As I waved it off the yellow note popped into my head and I laughed a bit while making a mental note to correct it.

After lunch that day Aizawa sat posed at the kotatsu, ready to see what I'd brought, and I pulled out another Ghibli movie. He simply pushed it down and motioned for me to grab something else. I grabbed a video game and it's controllers just to be met with the same reaction. Board and card games alike were turned away, almost like he was looking for something in particular. Finally, I reached into the bottom of my bag and pulled out my ukulele with some of its sheet music, watching his eyes light up like string lights. I originally planned to bring my Ocarina, but it was glass and I didn't want to break it, and most of my other favorites were too big to bring along with everything else. I took the instrument out of its case and watched as Aizawa flipped through the various sheets of paper. I wasn't sure he understood any of the ink on the papers, but he pulled one out and handed it to me, asking me to play.

I tuned the ukulele and started singing out the words for him. He couldn't understand what I was saying, but he seemed to be having fun nonetheless. After making our way through a good few of the songs, he flipped into the back of the thin binder and pulled out a little packet of papers that were stapled together. I'd shoved them back there and folded them in half in hopes they wouldn't be noticed, but it only made sense knowing the Erasure hero's ability to find things that were meant to stay hidden. He flipped through the songs and picked one out. It was a few old love songs that I used to play to Tave when we lived together, and he picked out Tave's favorite. It was from a band he liked when he was in middle school, but the one song had always stuck with him and made him think of me every time he heard it. It talked about how love was fleeting and that it was a lie, but exceptions could be made.

It was a slower song, but it required heavier singing, so I took a deep breath and started on the opening lines. I made it through the song fine, but Aizawa kept making weird faces at me the entire time. Their meaning wasn't something I was able to grasp, but he never stopped me, so I kept going. Afterward, he picked out another song, pushing it forward for me to play. My eyes drifted from the music across the clock, and I realized we'd spent entirely too much time on our little concert, and it was time to start dinner. I started putting my instrument all the paper away, but when I looked up, it hit me how disappointed he looked staring down at the paper in his hand. I grabbed his hand and promised him we could continue after dinner, and he seemed to like that answer. We cooked and ate, and spent the rest of the evening singing and playing until I was too tired to remember the words.

Our last morning had arrived, and I was the first one up again. I woke up bright and early, just like normal, but the only thing I could think about was the snoring that vibrated against my back. Grateful that this was the last day I had to deal with this for at least two weeks, I rolled over and pushed myself away from the man latched against me, trying to combat the hands that wanted to pull me back into a smothering snuggle. Once I'd won I laid back, holding onto one of his hands so it wouldn't pull at me anymore. I rolled onto my side towards him, wondering what he was dreaming of. He looked so calm and peaceful lying there sawing away. I watched as his chest rose and sank, how his mouth muttered and drooled, how his underbite stuck out way more when he was so relaxed, and a thought hit me in the chest. It was a phrase I hadn't used in that context in a while, years even. It was a jarring thought, and I wasn't ready to think about it, so I pushed it from my head and headed for the shower. I had hoped I could scrub the thought from my mind, or at the very least cool off a bit. Neither goal was achieved, but I was clean, which is always good.